Cal Rides Dai Dai Ames' Hot Hand to 90-85 Victory over Georgia Tech

Cal coach Mark Madsen rolled the dice and it came up 7s.

Junior guard Dai Dai Ames, who wears No. 7, returned to the floor carrying four personal fouls with the Bears nursing a 61-60 lead over Georgia Tech with 9:30 left.

Ames hit a 3-pointer then a mid-range jump shot extending the lead to 66-62 and the Bears went on to claim a 90-85 victory at Haas Pavilion on Wednesday evening that further advances their dreams of earning an NCAA tournament bid.

Ames made one of two free throws with 43.9 seconds left and two more with 14.8 seconds to go, finishing with a career-high 29 points as the Bears (17-6, 5-5) won their fourth game in the past five.

The win also leveled Madsen’s three-year coaching record in Berkeley at 44-44 after he took over a team that won three games the year before his arrival. A crowd of 6,018 was on hand for the contest, not a bad showing considering the game tipped off at 5 p.m.

Ames delivered a performance that made it worth their while. He hit 9 of 13 shots and scored eight points after re-entering the game with four fouls. Madsen said putting him back in was a chance he willing to take.

"Dai Dai Ames has tremedous self-discipline," Madsen says in the video at the top of this story after being asked why he felt confident putting Ames back into the game with four fouls. "So he's a guy you can really trust. I knew it could go either way, but I knew the likelihood was he was going to have the composure and the discipline not to pick up that fifth foul. And he was great with that."

Ames, who once scored 65 points in a high school game, admits in the video below he didn't expect to return to the floor so soon after picking up his fourth foul with 10:50 to play. "I didn't really expect that. I thought I was going to sit down for like 3 minutes. But coach has that trust in me."

Cal assembled another strong perimeter shooting performance, hitting 12 of 23 attempts from the 3-point arc. They have connected on 44.8 percent (56 for 125) over the past five games.

Chris Bell made a pair of 3’s in the final 6 minutes, the second one pushing the Bears to a seemingly comfortable 80-72 lead with 2:04 to play.

But Tech’s Akai Fleming made two 3-pointers and a layup in a span of 1:16 and the Yellow Jackets were within three points. Milos Ilic converted four straight free throws in the final 31 seconds to give Cal breathing room.

John Camden scored 15 points for the Bears, Justin Pippen had 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists and Bell scored 14 points. Ilic, starting the past three games for injured big man Lee Dort, delivered one of his best performances with 11 points and nine rebounds, including 7 for 7 from the foul line, despite playing in foul trouble.

Fleming scored 19 points for Tech (11-12, 2-8) and Baye Ndongo had 10 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists before fouling out.

Cal, which plays 20th-ranked Clemson (19-4, 9-1) in a significant home game Saturday, is inching closer to its first 20-win season since 2017, its first NCAA bid since 2016.

"The goal that we had when we came here as a staff was not just the NAA tournament, but to make a deep run in the tournament," Madsen said. "We feel like we're taking steps on a day by day basis to strive to attain that goal.

"There's a lot of good teams in the ACC. There's a lot of teams trying for that goal. Our challenge is, tomorrow for example, to come in and have a phenomenal day of work. Look at the things we did poorly tonight. There was a lot we did poorly. There was a lot we did well."

Georgia Tech coach Damon Stoudamire, the one-time Arizona star, isn't counting out Cal as an NCAA possibility. "They're right there in the mix, for sure," he said. "Me, being a West Coast guy, I played against Cal. Mark has done a great job. He's put them in position. They'll have some opportunities to keep winning and improve their resume, but they'll be right there in the mix."

Ames drilled a 3-pointer just 43 seconds into the second half to give the Bears a 46-31 lead, their biggest of the game. But after limiting the Yellow Jackets to 29 first-half points, Cal was lit up by a 56-point second half from the visitors.

The Yellow Jackets, who made just two 3-pointers in 17 attempts in the first half, converted 8 of 12 in the second half to help fuel their comeback. They also had their way inside, outscoring Cal 48-16 in the paint and 16-4 on second-chance points after offensive rebounds.

Georgia Tech went in front on a drive to the basket by Akai Fleming and inched the lead to 53-49 on a dunk by Chas Kelly II. But Kelley was hit with a technical foul for taunting and Ames trimmed the margin to two points by converting both foul shots with 14:08 left.

Cal led 57-56 after a layup and free throw by Pippen with 11:01 left. But 11 seconds later Ames went to the bench with his fourth foul, taking the game’s hottest hand out of play.

For 80 seconds, anyway.

Cal scored the game’s first eight points and never trailed on the way to a 43-29 halftime lead.

Ames scored 10 of his 15 first-half points in the opening 7 minutes, lifting the Bears to a 17-9 lead.

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