Cal Loses a Tough One on the Road to Virginia Tech

Cal's Justin Pippen had a good look at a potential game-tying three-point shot at the buzzer, but it bounced off the hoop, sending the Bears to a 78-75 loss to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, on Saturday afternoon.

Before that, an unforced Cal turnover with 4.5 seconds left probably doomed the Bears, who could not be saved by the last three-point attempt.

It was a wild final minute for Cal (13-4, 1-3 ACC), which slipped to 0-3 on the road as it heads into its most anticipated homestand in years. On Wednesday No. 6 Duke comes to Haas Pavilion for an 8 p.m. game, and on Saturday Cal hosts 17th-ranked North Carolina in a 1 p.m. contest.

Cal played two centers together for much of the game Saturday and that enabled Cal to stay in the game, holding a six-point lead with 6:31 to play.

But it was the final minute that decided the outcome and gave the win to Virginia Tech, which improved to 13-4 overall, 2-2 in the ACC and 10-1 on its home court.

When Cal center Milos Ilic made two free throws with 1:06 left it brought the Bears within a point at 74-73.

Dai Dai Ames, who finished with 21 points for Cal, then made a steal with 44 seconds left, and Ames and Chris Bell got good looks on shots with 19 and 16 seconds left, respectively, but both missed.

Amani Hansberry hit two free throws with 15.2 seconds remaining to put the Hokies ahead by three points, and John Camden's two free throws with 8.4 seconds left brought the deficit back to one point.

After Virginia Tech's Jaden Schutt made the second of two foul shots with 6.7 seconds to play to make it a two-point game, Cal had a chance to tie or go ahead. But after Ames inbounded the ball to Camden, Camden made a poor return pass to Ames in the backcourt and the ball went out of bounds for a turnover with 4.7 seconds left.

Tobi Lawal made one of two free throws to put the Hokies ahead by three points with 3.6 seconds to go before Cal pulled off a nice play that nearly tied it. Camden threw a fullcourt pass to Ilic at the top of the key, and he quickly passed to Pippen, who was open on the left side. However, his three-point attempt hit the rim and bounced off at the buzzer.

Two of Cal's centers -- Lee Dort and Montas Kocanas -- fouled out of the game in which the teams combined to shoot 52 free throws. Cal was 19-for-21 from the line, and Virginia Tech was 27-for-31. Cal was called for 28 fouls, and Virginia Tech was called for 18.

"We wanted to p[lay physically," Cal coach Mark Madsen said. "Look, I thought the whistle went a little bit to Virginia Tech tonight when I look at the foul count . . .But that can't be an excuse. We have to play better without fouling; they were grabbing us and holding us the whole night also."

Turnovers were a problem for the Bears.

"We had 13 turnovers; that's way too many," Madsen said. "We've been really good, and tonight we were really bad in terms of taking care of the ball.

"We outrebounded them [31-28). We got to the free throw line 21 times, we made 19. We did a lot of good things. We were not able to finish it. We have to scramble even more, but I was proud of our guys for bouncing back from a tough Virginia loss where we did not play well [in an 84-60 loss on Wednesday.] We played better tonight; we could not get over the hump."

Pippen finished with 11 points but was 4-for-18 from the field, including 1-for-8 from long range. Camden, who had played two seasons at Virginia Tech before playing last season at Delaware, finished with two points on 0-for-5 shooting from the floor, including 0-for4 from beyond the three-point arc. It was the first time this season Camden failed to make a three-pointer in a game.

A first half of runs ended with the score tied 37-37.

Cal’s used two centers on the court at the same time with success to combat Virginia Tech’s strong frontcourt in the first 20 minutes.

Cal had been beaten badly on the boards against Virginia, but the Bears outrebounded the Hokies 19-8 in the first half, including 9-3 on the offensive boards.

Cal trailed 16-10 before it reeled off 14 straight points over four minute to take the lead. That turned into a 19-2 run that gave Cal an 11-point lead with 9:08 remaining in the half.

But Virginia Tech responded with an 11-0 run as Cal committed five turnovers during that Hokies spurt that tied the game.

Dort was the only player in double figures in the first half with 10 points. Dort was on the floor together with 6-foot-11 Kocanas for much of the first half. And Kocanas or Dort shared the floor with 6-foot-10 center Ilic at other times before halftime.

NOTES

---Cal forward Rytis Petraitis missed his 10th straight game on Saturday. He has not played since the November 25 victory over UCLA. It’s unclear when or if he will return this season. Madsen said he will have a better idea about Petraitis' status this week.

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