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Bears Hang on to Defeat Cal Poly, 85-82

November 12, 2017
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After a disastrous opening night loss to UC Riverside Friday night, the Bears (1-1) were looking to make big strides in Sunday's matchup with a very beatable Cal Poly (0-2) squad coming to Berkeley, who was coming off a loss of their own to Stanford Friday night.

After building an impressive 18-point lead early in the 2nd half, the Bears survived a scoring run of 3-point shooting from Cal Poly to hang on for an 85-82 win. Guard Don Coleman led the way for the Bears with 30 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 11-for-14 from the line to go along with five rebounds and three assists for the game.

The Bears got big games from twin towers Kingsley Okoroah and Marcus Lee after their disappointing opener, with a career high 15 points from Okoroh and 21 points and 11 rebounds from Lee.

"I think the best thing is that we're learning together and trying to figure out how we can adjust and get it done together," said Lee.

Victory wasn't easy for the Bears, however, as they had to withstand a barrage of 3's from Cal Poly, as the Mustangs hit an astounding 16-of-28 (57%) from deep to make it a tight contest in the end.

"They're just a really great shooting team. After a rough start, they really found their groove. We just need to learn how to handle it," said Lee.

"Coach told me to let the game come to me and not push it," said Coleman, who noted that he was motivated by the barrage of criticism he received on social media after Friday night's loss. "I didn't rush it and played through the system, in the game flow.

"Marcus told us to play more through him tonight and we did. We didn't get him the ball Friday."

There were several encouraging signs early in the contest. The Bears' press, which was soundly beaten throughout the loss Friday showed some early effectiveness, forcing a timeout and keeping the Mustangs from getting in an early rhythm. Power forward Marcus Lee, who was ineffective till the end of Friday's loss showed aggression and a bit of shooting range, scoring a quick seven points on a jumper, baby hook and a jam in traffic with the and one in the early minutes. Freshman wing Justice Sueing (12 points, four rebounds, four assists), earning his first start, was aggressive going to the hole, scoring a quick trio of buckets. And an interior defense that was suprisingly soft and vulnerable in the opener had a pair of early blocks, including a decisive stuff by frosh point guard Darius McNeill, that ignited a break. The Bear also managed a steal and fast break bucket on the press, as well.

The half ended 44-30, with the Mustangs' solid 6-for-14 shooting from 3-point range one of the few things keeping Cal Poly in the game.

Coleman led the Bears Friday night with 32 points an otherwise miserable stat line of 31% shooting and three turnovers with one assist. However Coleman was a different player in the first half, with an efficient line of 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting with two assists and two rebounds.

Twitter / Cal Athletics
Power Forward Marcus Lee with the baby hook over Cal Poly

The Bears continued their aggressive play, extending the lead to 19 at 49-30 two minutes into the half on a pair of Lee free throws. However, a steady barage of threes by the Mustangs got Cal Poly back in the game, with a run of 5 straight treys. Guard Marcellus Garrick hit straight threes in the run.

Another trey by forward Luke Meikle cut the Bears' lead to five with 8:30 remaining before Coleman stemmed the tide with a driving layup and a pair of free throw to pad the Bears lead to nine.

Another 6-0 Mustang run whittled the Cal lead down to five again with 4:30 remaining. A Lee free throw and a critical shot clock violation caused by tight Bear defense fllowed by a Coleman three from the top of the key gave the Bears some breathing room again.

The Mustangs wouldn't go away, paring the Cal lead down to five again on a bucket by Mark Crowe followed by a pair of Garrick free throws but a thunderous follow jam by Lee broke the quick run.

Torrid 3-point shooting continued to make this a tighter contest than it should be, with back-to-back treys from Crowe and Fields again cutting the Cal lead to five, 84-79 with under 10 seconds remaining. A final three from forward Jacub Niziol cut the lead to three but time ran out on the Mustang's run, as the Bears hung on for the 85-82 win.

"Happy with the win," said head coach Wyking Jones. "Really happy with the way we played in first half, getting it inside and good penetration from the guards, shooting 70%.

"I had some unofficial meetings with the guards, letting them know they needed to get them (Okoroh and Lee the ball, said of the Bears' big jump in interior scoring productivity.

As for Cal Poly's excellent perimeter scoring:

"They hit tough shots, even after we made adjustments," said Jones. "What can you do about it?

"They outscored us by 11 in the 2nd half. Luckily we were able to score and ended up winning."

Of Coleman's dramatic turnaround from game one to two:

"Unbelievable," said Jones. "He played with a better pace and he was very good for us. His teammates see it and we see it.

"He's very good in transition. I said in transition, be aggressive, be you. In half court sets, that's where you need to be selective."

"He took it well and I'm happy he had this kind of game because it was a good lesson for him."

Discussion from...

Bears Hang on to Defeat Cal Poly, 85-82

15,521 Views | 30 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by UrsaMajor
Eastern Oregon Bear
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Nice story. Was that stuff at the end from Wyking or was Coleman really referring to himself at length in the third person?
Yogi58
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There's an error in the third to last paragraph.
Polodad
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WJ shortened his bench today and played this like a 'must win' game. It' s good to get the first W.
SFCALBear72
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Bring on Wofford!!!

Thursday night at 6 pm.
Yogi58
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Don't anger the woffing gods
calbear80
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Always it is good to win one, even if it is against lowly Cal Poly SLO. But, we lost the second half by double digit and that must be a major concern.

Coach Joe Kapp after losing to WSU in early 80's:
"We just got run over by a moped and some trucks are coming"

Go Bears!
UrsaMajor
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calbear80 said:

Always it is good to win one, even if it is against lowly Cal Poly SLO. But, we lost the second half by double digit and that must be a major concern.

Coach Joe Kapp after losing to WSU in early 80's:
"We just got run over by a moped and some trucks are coming"

Go Bears!
Unless I'm mistaken, that quote was WSU's coach, Wulff on being upset by Cal. He said that the schedule included trucks and tanks, and you had to try to beat the trucks, because you had no chance against the tanks, and just got run over by a ******* moped.
calbear80
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What I quoted was said by Joe Kapp when he was coaching Cal Football had in early 1980's. I remember the game as having been a nice clear sunny early Fall day in Berkeley.

Hey, but I could be wrong and it won't be the first (or last) time!!!
caltagjohnson
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Two key changes today: Sueing for Hamilton, and they came out aggressive. The scoring in the second half was a bit misleading. Cal Poly made a phenominal percentage of threes. They are not likely to do this again. We made clutch free throws when it counted. The Stanford-Cal Poly game was close until the last minutes. Sueing did not look like a freshman, He is a good all around player. It will be interesting who gets the start at the 3 when Dyson comes back
bearister
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"Coach told me to let the game come to me and not push it," said Coleman, who noted that he was motivated by the barrage of criticism he received on social media after Friday night's loss. "Yeah." said Coleman, "those guys on BearInsider can be real ***holes."
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ducky23
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caltagjohnson said:

Two key changes today: Sueing for Hamilton, and they came out aggressive. The scoring in the second half was a bit misleading. Cal Poly made a phenominal percentage of threes. They are not likely to do this again. We made clutch free throws when it counted. The Stanford-Cal Poly game was close until the last minutes. Sueing did not look like a freshman, He is a good all around player. It will be interesting who gets the start at the 3 when Dyson comes back



Hate to say it, but just replacing Sueing for Hamilton was a huge adjustment. ITs not the entire reason for the extremely rough start against riverside but it was certainly a major contributing factor. We are scoring challenged enough as it is. We absolutely cannot afford to play 4 on 5 on offense.
OdontoBear66
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bearister said:

"Coach told me to let the game come to me and not push it," said Coleman, who noted that he was motivated by the barrage of criticism he received on social media after Friday night's loss. "Yeah." said Coleman, "those guys on BearInsider can be real ***holes."
"Here's to ***holes, through and through,
I'm an ***hole, I'm true Blue"

Yup Don, you turned it around today, but Friday night was an ugly 32. Cal education helping out right away. Get over it.
Yogi58
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OdontoBear66 said:

bearister said:

"Coach told me to let the game come to me and not push it," said Coleman, who noted that he was motivated by the barrage of criticism he received on social media after Friday night's loss. "Yeah." said Coleman, "those guys on BearInsider can be real ***holes."
"Here's to ***holes, through and through,
I'm an ***hole, I'm true Blue"

Yup Don, you turned it around today, but Friday night was an ugly 32. Cal education helping out right away. Get over it.
Would now be a bad time to point out that the quote from Coleman wasn't an actual quote?
MoragaBear
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Staff
Postgame videos and highlights added to the story.

We're learning new things about the publishing system as well as making improvements all the time and now corrections and additions are also showing up in the initial post in the game story thread, so that's good.
MoragaBear
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Staff
Yogi Bear said:

OdontoBear66 said:

bearister said:

"Coach told me to let the game come to me and not push it," said Coleman, who noted that he was motivated by the barrage of criticism he received on social media after Friday night's loss. "Yeah." said Coleman, "those guys on BearInsider can be real ***holes."
"Here's to ***holes, through and through,
I'm an ***hole, I'm true Blue"

Yup Don, you turned it around today, but Friday night was an ugly 32. Cal education helping out right away. Get over it.
Would now be a bad time to point out that the quote from Coleman wasn't an actual quote?
Yeah, in case anybody misunderstood his sarcasm, DC said nothing about Bear Insider and certainly didn't call anyone a-holes.
bearister
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I apologize for being a smart aleck and misquoting DC. It was an attempt to stick up for him and it back fired. I won't tamper with quotes again. DC is going to be our "go to" guy this year when the team needs to fire things up.
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Yogi58
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bearister said:

I apologize for being a smart aleck and misquoting DC. It was an attempt to stick up for him and it back fired. I won't tamper with quotes again. DC is going to be our "go to" guy this year when the team needs to fire things up.
I think any thinking man should've known that you were kidding.
MoragaBear
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Staff
Well, we're not always thinking men in these parts
HoopDreams
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lee and king played great games, and a lot of minutes
seems coach thinks were best with both on the floor (depending on matchups)
I certainly agree that Lee is probably our most important player, and its amazing he can play at that pace for 39 minutes

sueing continues to impress with his drives and smart defense. he gets his hands on balls a lot

but coleman again is the biggest story
uncanny ability to get to the rack, but much better at picking his spots and diversifying his game
on one play he started to drive to the basket and the defender retreated to the paint
coleman stopped and popped and was wide open
that type of play will increase his scoring, efficiency, and help his drives as defenders won't be able to collapse on D

apparently he was a decent 3 point shooter in jc, and that he can continue to shoot like today. he often times leans into his shot, but when he takes his time his form looks pretty good

dude has a motor... case in point ... diving 5 feet for the loose ball, which was a key play and show me (and more importantly his teammates) a lot
Beardog26
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Agreed, it seemed pretty clearly that it was a fake quote and intended as a joke.
MoragaBear
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Staff
HoopDreams said:

lee and king played great games, and a lot of minutes
seems coach thinks were best with both on the floor (depending on matchups)
I certainly agree that Lee is probably our most important player, and its amazing he can play at that pace for 39 minutes
He was beat after the game. He told us it felt like he had a lot of miles on his body.
HoopDreams
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I was at the game so didn't hear Monty
really enjoy his TV announcing of a game, because I think I learn something every time

also appreciate his candor. he doesn't just do the standard post game interview ...

MoragaBear
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Staff
Monty's still got a lot of coach in him
OdontoBear66
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Yogi Bear said:

bearister said:

I apologize for being a smart aleck and misquoting DC. It was an attempt to stick up for him and it back fired. I won't tamper with quotes again. DC is going to be our "go to" guy this year when the team needs to fire things up.
I think any thinking man should've known that you were kidding.
"should've", but then quote marks are quote marks. But then who's thinking?
mikecohen
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MoragaBear said:

HoopDreams said:

lee and king played great games, and a lot of minutes
seems coach thinks were best with both on the floor (depending on matchups)
I certainly agree that Lee is probably our most important player, and its amazing he can play at that pace for 39 minutes
He was beat after the game. He told us it felt like he had a lot of miles on his body.
Be careful what you wish for. Just joking; but, for those who agreed that practicing against the best would be better than really being forced to develop all your skills and abilities to be able to carry a team on your back (although the burden would not have been so great had he come here originally): It looks like he's gonna get a real Baptism of Fire and really have to produce this year, such that, if he can rise to the occasion (and he certainly has the talent to do it), should majorly increase his draft stock. Also, there was a hint (at least in the first half) that the staff has a clue how to address those things for him and also the things that will really improve this team - although it will take a lot of work -- which is not a bad thing, for either the staff or the team members - or for us fans.
KoreAmBear
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MoragaBear said:

Monty's still got a lot of coach in him


Seems like Don was surprised he was getting the coaching lecture from Monty lol.
concordtom
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MoragaBear said:

Well, we're not always thinking men in these parts


I don't know if there was editing or any admonishment, but thanks for letting it slide without deletion, only clarification.

I'm just seeing for first time and recognized bearister's sarcasm. Handled well enough, it seems. I suppose barrister could've added a line or word to indicate it was sarcasm, humor would have worked just the same.

Nice that comments now can follow articles!!
concordtom
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mikecohen said:

MoragaBear said:

HoopDreams said:

lee and king played great games, and a lot of minutes
seems coach thinks were best with both on the floor (depending on matchups)
I certainly agree that Lee is probably our most important player, and its amazing he can play at that pace for 39 minutes
He was beat after the game. He told us it felt like he had a lot of miles on his body.
Be careful what you wish for. Just joking; but, for those who agreed that practicing against the best would be better than really being forced to develop all your skills and abilities to be able to carry a team on your back (although the burden would not have been so great had he come here originally): It looks like he's gonna get a real Baptism of Fire and really have to produce this year, such that, if he can rise to the occasion (and he certainly has the talent to do it), should majorly increase his draft stock. Also, there was a hint (at least in the first half) that the staff has a clue how to address those things for him and also the things that will really improve this team - although it will take a lot of work -- which is not a bad thing, for either the staff or the team members - or for us fans.


After hearing Monty, sounds like Marcus is going to follow his brother Bryan in Silicon Valley after Cal and skip the semipro ranks overseas. He sure didn't look NBA to me, and let's just remind ourselves that 21 and 11 vs Cal Poly is not a big deal.

As said elsewhere, these two so far were mopeds, and we've got trucks and tanks coming up.
concordtom
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mikecohen said:

MoragaBear said:

HoopDreams said:

lee and king played great games, and a lot of minutes
seems coach thinks were best with both on the floor (depending on matchups)
I certainly agree that Lee is probably our most important player, and its amazing he can play at that pace for 39 minutes
He was beat after the game. He told us it felt like he had a lot of miles on his body.
Be careful what you wish for. Just joking; but, for those who agreed that practicing against the best would be better than really being forced to develop all your skills and abilities to be able to carry a team on your back (although the burden would not have been so great had he come here originally): It looks like he's gonna get a real Baptism of Fire and really have to produce this year, such that, if he can rise to the occasion (and he certainly has the talent to do it), should majorly increase his draft stock. Also, there was a hint (at least in the first half) that the staff has a clue how to address those things for him and also the things that will really improve this team - although it will take a lot of work -- which is not a bad thing, for either the staff or the team members - or for us fans.


Marcus had a great time at Kentucky. Final Fours are fun. But time will tell if that practice training will mean a ton. We shall see come better opponents later on. I think he'd have got a ton more playing time here, of course he would have!

Rare it will be that we get to see the other side of "what if" this season.

Regardless, I'm really happy for ML!!!
UrsaMajor
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concordtom said:


Rare it will be that we get to see the other side of "what if" this season.

Yoda?
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