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Bears Run Past Roadrunners, 83-63

November 13, 2023
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HAAS PAVILION - Completing the second half of an afternoon/evening doubleheader at Haas, the Bears got back on track for a solid 83-63 victory over Cal State Bakersfield (1-2) in Berkeley. The 2-1 Bears were trying to shake off a disappointing loss to Pacific Friday -the first time the Bears lost to the Tigers in three-quarters of a century and tonight’s win did the trick.

Madsen noted that the team is a work in progress and that tonight is more like what they’ve envisioned for this season as they continue to grow together as a unit.

“It’s a new team, a new coach and a new staff,” Madsen said after the game. “On top of that, a guy like Jaylon Tyson has been with the team but he hasn’t really been able to participate in scrimmages against other teams (or in last Monday’s season opener). He wasn’t allowed to. So really, these last two games were the first times that he was able to have that opportunity with his teammates under the lights at 7 pm.”

Cal jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on 3-pointers from point guard Devin Askew and combo guard Jalen Cone and stayed hot from the perimeter throughout the half, particularly Cone, who hit 5-of-10 from the arc and had 17 points by the break. Overall the Bears were 11-for-21 at the break from three-point land, something they were expecting to be able to do more frequently with several 40% three-point shooters in the rotation.

Askew also had a strong half, going for 10 first-half points, including a pair of 3’s and a driving layup in traffic.

The Bears closed the half with a 13-5 run to take a 49-34 lead into the locker room after a buzzer-beating 3 from Cone to close out the half.

After struggling with cramps several points in Friday night’s loss, wing Jaylon Tyson looked healthy in tonight’s win, including throwing down a modified windmill dunk to put the Bears up 16 midway through the second half. They pushed it to 18 on the next possession on a Tyson outlet pass and jam by center Fardaws Aimaq. Aimaq finished with 14 points and 7 rebounds going 4-for-6 from the field and 5-for-7 from the line in an efficient game before fouling out with 5:57 remaining.

Though Tyson struggled from the field tonight, going just 4-for-15, he was still able to positively impact the game with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists in a double-double effort. Tyson also had one block and one steal and played disruptive defense all game.

When Cone popped for another 3 with 1:50 remaining, the Bears extended their lead to 21. It was Cone’s 7th trey of the night -the most in his career- leading the Bears from the arc.

“it’s fun when you’re hot and playing beside great players like Devin Askew at point guard,” Cone said after the game. It make the game a lot easier.”

“It felt great to get back on track,” Askew said, who was wearing protective shades after injuring his eye and suffering light sensitivity. “Started out (the season) a little slow but the trust of the coach and my teammates and the belief they have in me, I just went out and played hard today.”

As welcome as the 20-point win was, the Bears still will to look to improve their overall shooting after going just 27-67 (40%) from the floor tonight, including a sigificant number of 1-2 footers that wouldn’t go down. They also struggled with fouls thoughout the night, putting the Roadrunners on the line for 33 attempts compared to their 20 on the night. The Bears did clamp down from the perimeter, only surrendering three 3 pointers on the night - a massive improvement from the first two games. They also only turned the ball over 8 times tonight while forcing 11 turno

The Roadrunners were led by point guard Kaleb Higgins with 22 points on the night.

Discussion from...

Bears Run Past Roadrunners, 83-63

4,214 Views | 7 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by RedlessWardrobe
Bobodeluxe
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2,600 tickets distributed. Time to lower the prices or promote giveaways. Don't wait 'til last game as in football.
stu
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Bobodeluxe said:

2,600 tickets distributed. Time to lower the prices or promote giveaways. Don't wait 'til last game as in football.
They actually raised prices on cheapest seats - two CSUB tix for $55 vs two UOP tix for $36. The CSUB tix were close to game time, does that change the pricing?
KoreAmBear
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Jaylon messed around and almost got a triple-double.
HoopDreams
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Tyson with 12 rebounds and 7 assists!

Okofor 2-4, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a block, plus solid defense in 16 minutes. Looks like a much more fundamental player than last year
BC Calfan
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Tyson is the real deal. Just on a different level than everybody on the floor last night. Aside from his plus skill, athleticism and motor, he has great energy and focus. He's also encouraging and supportive with his teammates. Of all his highlights last night what impressed me was his one-on-one D near the hoop and when he'd force the opponent to miss then ferociously snatch that rebound. He grabbed so many tough boards. And when was the last time we had a player with 7 assists?? Awesome to see.

Nice bounce-back game from Devin. Going into the game, I just wanted to see quick decisions and urgency from him and we saw more of it. He's still a work in progress and displays bad habits now and then. There was a bad possession last night where he shook off Cone on the wing, dribbled iso and launched a contested 3, with no other player touching the ball---but I'm willing to guess he'd take that back. He also missed a wide open player in semi-transition on the baseline (Tyson?) because his head was down and he was dribbling too much. If he just cleans up his play a little bit and pushes tempo more, he will be indispensable.

I also wanted to see better perimeter team D and it was evident. CSB may not have had the shooters but there were less open 3s then the first 2 games and no bad mismatches where Fardaws had to defend outside the lane.

Several times the team made the extra pass for a better 3 point shot. Love it.

Band was great last night. Halftime music was excellent.
OdontoBear66
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HoopDreams said:

Tyson with 12 rebounds and 7 assists!

Okofor 2-4, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a block, plus solid defense in 16 minutes. Looks like a much more fundamental player than last year
I still don't see it with Okofor...Would agree on him progressing, but still a bit of a liability. When Aimaq's fouls are rising as last nite, Okofor has to play very careful. His five fouls are needed. Don't go for hero blocks or be late on bunnies.
RedlessWardrobe
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Don't mean to be a downer because the team looked good last night, but Bakersfield's perimeter ball movement/three point shooting ability as a whole (point guard Higgins excepted) didn't come close to the level that St.Thomas and UOP possessed. I would be happy to say this was due to our team defense as a whole, but I doubt if that was the case.

OTOH, if I got this right, Madsen started the game with Cone guarding Higgins (my guess is due to the size similiarity), but mid first half switched and put Askew on Higgins, and Devin's length and size slowed Higgins down significantly (he did an excellent job.) The flip side was Cone undersized on his man, but again in this era of college basketball, its better to be at a disadvantage defensively to a 2 point shooter as opposed to a 3 point shooter.
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