Jeremiah Wilkinson Scores 25 in Homecoming, but Cal Loses at Buzzer in OT

Cal freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson scored 25 points in his return to his home state, and Andrej Stojakovic broke out of his recent scoring slump with 22 points, but Cal lost to Georgia Tech 90-88 on a tip-in at the buzzer of overtime on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta

Cal (12-14, 5-10 ACC) led by five points in overtime and after Georgia Tech tied it with 43 seconds to go, Cal had a chance to take the lead. But Cal committed a turnover and the Yellow Jackets (13-13, 7-8 ACC) waited for the final shot after taking over with 21.5 seconds left. Naithan George had his shot with three seconds left blocked by Rytis Petraitis, but Baye Ndongo tipped the loose ball into the basket just as the buzzer sounded.

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Ndongo finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds, with eight of those boards coming on the offensive end, the last one winning the game.

Cal has now lost five of its last six games, but nearly pulled out a big road win agaonst a Georgia Tech team that has won four of its past five games, including wins over second-place Clemson and third-place Louisville in that stretch.

Cal made a season-high 13 three-pointers, and had 17 assists, one shy of the Bears' season high.

"Guys were making shots, shot 50% from three, we had 17 assists, which is probably close to our season high, so all the things we've been working on came to fruition," Cal head coach Mark Madsen said. "Where we really got hurt late was the turnovers."

Cal had four turnovers in the five-minute overtime, with the one wih 21.5 seconds left being the most important one. Cal shot 50% from the floor for the game, but Georgia Tech shot 54.6%.

Wilkinson is from Powder Springs, Georgia, which is 25 miles from Georgia Tech, and attended high school in Atlanta as a senior. He had family and friends on hand Saturday, and he had a chance to win the game in regulation ime, but his driving layup misfired with four seconds remaining.

Wilkinson had 18 points after halftime, but he missed the final two minutes of overtime after suffering a leg cramp. He left the game with the score tied.

Wilkinson's most memorable moment came in the first half on a break-away dunk.

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Wilkinson is now averaging 20.7 points since being moved into the starting lineup seven games ago. Stojakovic, Cal's leading scorer, had not scored more than 10 points in any of his previous five games, going 1-for-18 on three-pointers in that span. But he was 4-for-5 from long range and 8-for-13 overall on Saturday when he reached the 20-point plateau for the 10th time this season.

For the third time this season and for the first time in an ACC game, Stojakovic and Wilkinson each scored more than 20 points in the same game.

"They're a great tandem," Madsen said. "They work really well together. The defense has to make tough decisions in terms of who they're going to guard."

Wilkinson had Cal's first eight points of the second half, helping the Bears turn an eight-point deficit with 19:17 left into a 54-52 lead with 12:40 remaining in regulation.

The lead see-sawed for the next 10 minutes, and the score was tied 73-73 before Duncan Powell scored on a dunk with 2:49 remaining to give Georgia Tech a two-point lead. Powell made it a four-point game with two free throws at the 2:14 mark, but a follow shot by Rytis Petraitis and two free throws by Stojakovic tied the game at 77-77 with 1:18 to go.

Ndongo made a follow shot with 54.8 seconds left to put the Yellow Jackets ahead 79-77. Stojakovic scored with 41.3 second left to tie it, and after a Cal defensive stop Wilkinson failed to convert on a driving layup with four seconds left to send the game into overtime.

"We got him going downhill, got a good look at the basket," Madsen said.

In overtime, a bucket by Stojakovic with 2:45 remaining put the Bears ahead by five points, and Cal held an 88-86 lead with 1:34 remaining in the extra period when Mady Sissoko threw down a dunk off an alley oop pass from DJ Campbell. But those were Cal's last points as Ndongo tied the score with a basket at the 43-second mark followed by a Cal turnover when Sissoko lost the ball out of bounds with 21.5 seconds left. It appeared Cal might force a second overtime when George's attempt failed, but Ndongo was able to poke the ball up and into the basket as the buzzer sounded.

Georgia Tech shot 53.6% from the floor in the first half, when the Yellow Jackets went 5-for-8 on three-pointers. That helped Georgia Tech take a five-point lead at halftime.

Naithan George and Ndongo finished wih 26 points apiece, and Ndongo scored 16 points in the first half when Georgia Tech led by nine points with 2:45 left before intermission.

Stojakovic led Cal with eight points in the first half and Wilkinson added seven, The Bears held an 11-9 lead before the Yellow Jackes scored eight straight points to take a lead it held the rest of the half.

The Bears shot well from long range, hitting 6-of-11 three-pointers in the first 20 minutes.

NOTES: Cal has five regular-season games left as it tries to finish among the top 15 teams to qualify for the ACC tournament. The bottom three teams in the 18-team conference won’t be invited to the conference tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Cal entered the game ranked last in the ACC in shooting percentage at 41.9%, and next-to-last in field-goal percentage defense at 46.5%.