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Cal Pulls Away For Second Straight Win

November 7, 2024
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BERKELEY (AP) – The California men's basketball team erased an early double-digit lead and defeated Cal Poly 91-73 on Tuesday night to improve to 2-0 for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
 
Jovan Blacksher Jr. scored 13 of his team-high 18 points in the second half and Andrej Stojakovic added 15. Blacksher hit four 3-pointers and the Golden Bears (2-0) went 11 of 26 from the arc. Rytis Petraitis scored 13 points off the bench and BJ Omot had 10. Lee Dort grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds to go with eight points.


 
Leading by four at halftime, Cal opened the second half with three consecutive 3-pointers – two from Omot and one from Stojakovic – for a double-digit lead. The margin was 14 before Cal's bench provided all the points in an 11-0 run midway through the half. The Mustangs got within 12 with four minutes left but no closer.
 
The Mustangs hit five 3-pointers – including two from Jarred Hyder, a 2023 Cal alumnus who played three seasons for the Bears between 2020-23 – in the first six minutes of the game in taking a 12-point lead. Cal responded with 3s by Blacksher and Christian Tucker and eventually took the lead during a 13-2 run that included three consecutive 3s. The Bears led by as many as nine before going in the half ahead 39-35.


 
Issac Jessup hit 5 of 9 3-point attempts and finished with 20 points to lead Cal Poly before fouling out. Owen Koonce added 11 points. The Mustangs made 10 of 26 3-point tries but gave up 18 turnovers, leading to 29 Cal points.
 
UP NEXT
Cal hits the road for the first time to face Vanderbilt next Wednesday. Tipoff at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville is at 5 p.m. PT and the contest will be televised on SEC Network+. It will be the first meeting between Cal and Vanderbilt.


 
SUPPORT THE BEARS
Tickets for the 2024-25 campaign can be purchased by visiting CalBears.com/Tickets, calling 800-GO-BEARS (462-3277) or emailing goldstandard@berkeley.edu. Fans can support the Golden Bears through the Cal Men's Basketball Excellence Initiative or the California Legends Collective.

Related:

Bears Hold Off CSU Bakersfield in 86-73 Win in Opener

Discussion from...

Cal Pulls Away For Second Straight Win

1,694 Views | 3 Replies | Last: 15 days ago by oskidunker
bearsandgiants
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In addition to improved defense, rebounding and ball movement, Madsen appears to have significantly improved his timing of timeouts. He flipped momentum several times last night calling time at just the right moments.

The whole program has improved. It's a huge bummer that we don't have any lights out shooters, and Andrej is clearly pressing because he knows he was brought here to be that guy, but doesn't seem capable of getting it done.

Unlike some of our other players from years past, however, he makes up for it, at least in part, by relentless hustle and sacrifice. I was also critical of ola Joseph in game one, but he worked his ass off last night, too.

These guys are freaking great to watch. They're turning into a "team" overnight. A win at Vanderbilt would be absolutely huge for program momentum.
GoOskie
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I haven't watched a full game yet, just highlights. Blacksher looks impressive. Looking forward to the Vandy game.
oskidunker
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From Vandy message board. They are beatable.


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UltimateVUFan
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Re: Opener - looking good
Post by UltimateVUFan Mon Nov 04, 2024 9:20 pm

I shared these thoughts via text with a few of my undergrad buddies:

Dunno if y'all are watching the start of the Byington era. Just broke a hundred. But honestly, they haven't exactly looked impressive in all facets of the game doing so.

8-34 from deep with the number of open looks they had against Maryland Eastern Shore is concerning. They scored at will inside and dominated the boards because they simply had them overmatched and outnumbered (ended up getting the walkons in at the under 4 timeout to reach a total of 15 guys seeing action while UMES only had 9 guys dressed).

Might seem silly to nitpick a 102-63 victory, but they have a ways to go if they're going to compete in the SEC.

POTG is hands down Devin McGlockton whose statline was out of a video game: 24 and 13 on 10/10 FG.
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