Clutch Shooting and a Shake Up in the Line Up Help the Bears to a 89-83 Win
Berkeley, CA-- The Cal basketball season looked very meek a couple of hours ago, coming into this game 2-5 and coming off two ugly losses in which both, effort and heart were in question.
It wasn’t in this game. First the Bears looked to change things up, pulling Freshman guard Matt Bradley from the starting line up in favor of a bigger line up with Austin, McNeil, Sueing, Kelly, and Vanover.
“We needed to get bigger, after getting killed on the boards against San Franciso. We needed bigger bodies out there.” Said Wyking Jones on the lineup shift.
It seemed like the adjustment worked, giving up 9 offensive rebounds compared to 14 the game before. Cal outlasted a quality opponent in a SDSU team 89-83 at Haas Pavilion.The win snaps the Bears two-game losing streak and brings their record to 3-5 with another home game against Cal Poly coming up on the 15th.
As uninspired and sloppy as Cal has played the last two games, they were anything but that in the first half, scratching and clawing to keep things close. The Aztecs had taken a 42-41 lead into halftime, and Cal’s Justice Sueing lead the way in scoring with 13 points on 5-7 shooting and drilling three of four from deep. Grant Anticevich also had his career high in points with eight on 4-7 shooting and even pulling in 4 rebounds.
The Bears as a team did a much better job in this game moving the ball against the zone and were able to put the ball on the deck and create wide open shots shooting 54.8% from the field and 40% from distance at the break.
After the hot shooting from both teams at the half, both teams ditched the zone and adjusted and started to pick up man-to-man.
From there, it was a game of runs. Both teams changed the lead most of the night until SDSU went on a 8-0 run with 4:58 left in the game to make it 76-68.
Cal had some clutch genes in them tonight, answering with their 8-0 run with 2:30 left in the game, which got some help from a huge three out of Paris Austin and some free throws from Bradley and Sueing.
With 2:11 left in the game Jeremy Hemsely makes a layup to give the Aztecs the lead 80-78, and the Bears then, turned to their best player all night, Justice Sueing.
Justice Sueing hit a three which gave the Bears the lead for the first time in over 9 minutes. From here, it was back and forth until Freshman Matt Bradley hit the biggest shot of his young career, making a go-ahead three with 32 seconds left to make it 86-83 and all but sealed the win for the Bears.
The Bears as a team had their best game on the offensive side this season shooting 52.7% from the field and 46.4% from downtown. They weren’t just settling for threes ether, getting to the paint and drawing fouls, hitting 18-20 from the line and they needed every one of those.
“It started with Paris. We have been kind of going at him, to make sure his teammates get good looks.” Said Jones.“He did a great job tonight running the team. He had 9 assists and didn’t turn the ball over. He made all the right decisions and then it opened it up for him to score later in the game.”
The change was evident on the offensive end. Against zone Austin did a good job of attacking and creating shots for his teammates. When they went man, he was able to find his rhythm, and he finished with 15 points himself.
Sophomore Forward, Justice Sueing, led the way with 23 points on 4-6 from distant and also played well on the defensive end. Anticevich chipped in career highs in points and rebounds with 13 points and six rebounds.
Sophomore forward, Jalen McDaniels, was a tough guard slashing his way to 20 points, six rebounds and five assists for SDSU. The Aztecs as a team shot the ball well enough to win, shooting 54.7% from the field and 57.1% from deep.
With the loss, SDSU falls to 5-4 on the year and for the second straight time gets handed a loss by the Bears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3UU3nRVks