Cal Struggles but Gets Past Presbyterian in Men's Basketball

Presbyterian gave Cal more trouble than expected Tuesday night, but the Bears did enough in the latter stages of the second half to come away with a 67-57 victory before a crowd of 1,894 at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.

The Bears (4-1) trailed by a point with 12:18 to go in the second half, and did not break away until the final three minutes of the game.

John Camden had 20 points for Cal, and 18 of those points came in the second half. He was 1-for-6 from the field in the first half, including 0-for-4 on three-pointers, but he was 5-for-6 in the second half when he made both his three-point attempts.

"I thought honestly I was pretty soft in the first half," said Camden. "I think as a team we were pretty soft. So just made that mental adjustment at halftime. So I just decided to be more in attack mode in the second half."

Chris Bell added 14 points for Cal, and Lee Dort contributed 15 points and eight rebounds. Justin Pippen had just two points, but he recorded six assists with one turnover.

Cal entered Tuesday’s game as a 19.5-point favorite over Presbyterian, which was picked to finish sixth in the nine-team Big South Conference in the preseason poll. But it was a struggle for the Bears.

"What I'm proud of is that our guys really came out and responded to a challenge in the second half," Cal coach Mark Madsen said when asked to grade the team's performance. "So in terms of their response to a challenge, I would rate it very high. In terms of our start to the game, not good enough, just not good enough.

"I thought again Presbyterian won the physicality battle. They won the battle to the loose balls."

Madsen was pleased that his team committed just 11 turnovers after turning ball over 17 times in the previous game against Kansas State, but he said it needs to be better.

"It needs to be eight or less," he said.

Cal shot 51% from the field, but poor free-throw shooting hurt the Bears. Cal was just 3-for-10 from the foul line at one point late in the second half, although the Bears finished 9-for-16 from the line. Presbyterian stayed close because it collected 16 offensive rebounds and had 17 second-chance points.

Ten of Presbyterian's offensive rebounds came in the first half, and Madsen called that "unacceptable."

Cal held a four-point lead at 43-39 with 13:38 remaining in the second half, but Presbyterian took advantage of some offensive rebounds and grabbed the lead 44-43 when Carl Parrish III hit a three-pointer with 12:18 left.

Dai Dai Ames put Cal back in front 17 seconds later with a three-point shot, and Camden followed with another three-pointer one minute later to increase the Cal lead to five points.

The Bears pushed the margin to seven points, but the Blue Hose reduced the Cal lead to two points at the 7:02 mark. That was as close as Presbyterian (3-4) got as Cal took control from there.

Cal could not break away from the Blue Hose in the first half, which ended with Cal holding a 31-29 lead.

The Bears shot 48.3% from the floor and committed just three turnovers in the first half, but it took a two-point lead into halftime only because Milos Ilic scored from close range with 16.9 second remaining in the half.

Chris Bell led the Bears in scoring in the first half with 10 points, and Lee Dort added eight points on 4-for-4 shooting to go along with five rebounds. Jonah Pierce had 11 first-half points for Presbyterian.

The Bears seemed to be taking command when it held a 29-22 lead with 3:10 left in the first half, but the Blue Hose scored the next seven points to tie the score at 29-29.

That led to Ilic’s bucket in the closing seconds.

Cal attempted only one free throw in the first half and missed it.

NOTES

DeJuan “DJ” Campbell, who started 16 games for Cal last season, missed his fifth straight game Tuesday because of a groin injury. He has yet to play this season. Nolan Dorsey also sat out the game for the Golden Bears and had a boot on his foot.

Madsen classified the status of both players as day-to-day and expects to have them back soon.

Cal hosts Sacramento State on Friday, then the Bears face UCLA next Tuesday, November 25, at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

The Presbyterian Blue Hose lost to Sacramento State 64-62 on Sunday and lost to South Carolina by 20 points in the game before that.

Presbyterian, which is located in Clinton, South Carolina, continues its West Coast trip with a game at UCLA on Friday.

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