Cal Basketball: Bears Overcome Another Early Hole, Top OSU to Reach 8-8 in Pac-12
Cal tied a program record 16 3-point baskets but it was 2-foot shot that bounced around on the rim for a few moments before dropping through the net that finally locked up the Bears’ 81-73 victory over Oregon State in front of 3,012 fans at Haas Pavilion on Thursday night.
Fardaws Aimaq capped a 21-point, 11-rebound performance by converting the shot from the paint with 25.4 seconds left, pushing the Bears’ lead to six points — its largest advantage of the night to that point against the Pac-12’s last-place team.
Aimaq then made two free throws with 8.3 seconds left as the Bears delivered another victory after trailing early. They were down by as many as 11 points in this one before outscoring the Beavers 47-30 in the second half.
An 11-0 Cal burst that featured two 3-pointers by Jalen Celestine and one by Jalen Cone, transformed a 71-69 deficit into a 77-71 lead with 3:01 to play. The Beavers cut the margin to four points before Aimaq’s victory-clinching basket.
Cal improved to 12-15 overall, matching its highest win total in four years, and is now 8-8 and alone in sixth place in the Pac-12 a year after going 2-18.
The Bears close their home schedule against Oregon on Saturday at 4 p.m.
There was a lot about the Bears’ performance that pleased first-year coach Mark Madsen, as he explains in the video above.
Cal’s Jalen Cone scored all 17 points of his points in the second half, including five 3-pointers, in what coach Mark Madsen called “a masterpiece.” Jalen Celestine had consecutive steals and dunks during a critical second-half sequence and scored 15 points.
While recording his 18th double-double — tied for fourth most in the country — Aimaq also had five assists.
Keonte Kennedy, who talks in the video at the top of this story about the Bears’ ability to come back from early deficits, had 11 points and three steals and Grant Newell contributed eight points off the bench, going 2-for-2 on 3-pointers.
Cal had twice before made 16 shots from beyond the arc in a game, most recently on Jan. 6 of last year vs. Stanford. Six different players contributed to the 16-for-33 effort.
The Bears prevailed despite Jaylon Tyson — the Pac-12’s No. 2 scorer — finishing with a season-low seven points on 3-for-15 shooting. The junior guard did have five rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots.
The second of those came with 58.5 seconds left and Cal nursing a 77-73 lead. OSU's Tyler Bilodeau tried to convert a putback only to have Tyson swat it. The officials ruled goaltending, then reversed the call after a review, and the Beavers failed to score on the possession.
The Bears trailed the entire first half and didn’t take their first lead until just 9 minutes to play. But after suffering a series of narrow defeats early this season, they have now won three conference games where they trailed by double-digit margins.
Down 47-37 barely 2 minutes into the second half, the Bears made a move with an 11-2 burst that included a 3-pointer by Kennedy and six straight points by Celestine. He made a pair of free throws then stole the ball on consecutive OSU possessions, taking it back for a transition dunk each time.
OSU (11-16, 3-13) answered a 9-3 run of its own, triggered by a 3-pointer by Michael Rataj, for a 59-51 lead with 11:51 left.
Three-pointers by Newell and Cone fueled an 8-0 Cal response that knotted the score at 59-all with 10:13 to play. The Bears took their first lead of the night when Cone made another 3 for a 64-62 edge with 8:53 left.
OSU enjoyed its final lead of the game when Tyler Bilodeau nailed a 3-pointer to make it 71-69 with 5:35 left.
Cal then delivered its 11-0 burst to take charge for good.
Sophomore guard Jordan Pope, a native of Oakley in the Bay Area, led the Beavers with 23 points. Dexter Akanno scored 15, all of them in the first half.
Cover photo of Jalen Celestine's teammates mobbing him after back-to-back steals and dunks by Kyle Terada, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
