Cal Beats Cal State Fullerton 93-65 with Tenacious Defense and Well-Rounded Offense

The Golden Bears hosted the Cal State Fullerton Titans on Monday night at Haas Pavilion, coming away with a decisive 93-65 victory.

Coach Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen’s starting five once again included four upperclassmen with sophomore Justin Pippen the lone underclassmen. Forward John Camden and Guard Dai Dai Ames were huge early on, scoring the entirety of the Bears 19 points in the opening five minutes of the game.

Pippen and Ames mostly split the ball handling duties with Pippen doing most of the facilitating (four assists in the first half) and Ames doing the scoring (11 of the first 19 and 13 in the half).

The Bears hot start on offense began with a Camden three from the top of the arc followed by three Ames’ threes to put the Bears up 12 to 7. Pippen set up a beautiful alley-oop for Camden who laid it in and converted from the charity strike for three the old fashioned way.

“Stepping on the gas, not trying to be comfortable coming in and just going in and doing our thing” Dai Dai Ames said of the hot offensive start in the postgame conference.

Cal’s early 10 point lead was thanks in large part to the scoring of Ames and Camden as well Pippen’s excellent playmaking.

As the offense cooled Madsen went big, subbing in Milos Ilic, Rytis Petraitis and Nolan Dorsey with Pippen or Ames alternating in the ball-handler role. This was likely meant to utilize the Bears’ size advantage and Cal outrebounded Fullerton 25-20 in the first half, including six offensive boards.

Lee Dort led the tteamin rebounds in the first period and chipped in with three of the Bears 10 first half assists. Overall, the Bears distributed the ball very well, putting up 17 assists overall on the night.

The Bears halfcourt defense was good as they held the Titans to 35 percent from the field and just seven percent from three while forcing four turnovers.

As the first half crept to a close as both teams settled into their half court sets and the game slowed a bit.

With just under five minutes to go in the half, the Bears held a 10 point lead. Dai Dai Ames went to the line for two free throws stemming from a flagrant foul in the low block on the other end. Ames converted both then a Dort offensive board and put back dunk bolstered the Bears’ momentum.

The Bears led by 15, 42-27, at half.

Fullerton came out strong in the second half and pulled within 10 quickly in the first three minutes. That brief run was stifled by an Ames three from the wing followed by a Camden three from nearly the same spot to push the lead back up to 14.

Dort was integral on both ends of the floor in the second period as he secured two well-timed blocks and a couple offensive rebounds.

The Bears offensive aggression and defensive intensity remained high as a Dorsey assist to Ames three gave Cal its largest lead of the night at that point, 60-44, with just over 12 minutes left in the game.

The Bears’ swarming halfcourt defense paid dividends as an errant Titans’ pass sailed into the backcourt, with Nolan Dorsey diving to save it. That stop eventually resulted in two Pippen points from the charity stripe. Pippen chipped in another two from the free throw the following possession and the Bears went up 65-44.

“I think Nolan’s a dog. I think he comes out there with immediate energy. He’s picking up the point guard 94 feet and I think he loves helping out his teammates. He’s a very unselfish player,” Chris Bell said in a 1ostgame conference of Dorsey's momentous effort.

Tenacious on both ends, the Bears had 28 free throw attempts in the game, shooting just over 89 percent.

Pippen led the team, going 9-11, but Ames was 4-4, Bell was 6-6 and Dort went 3-4 from the charity Strike. Similarly, the Titan’s speed in the open court was disengaged in the second half as the Bears swept up the glass and took care of the ball while smothering the guards on the perimeter.

“Being able to drive and kick out to our shooters so they have to come, and obviously being able to create fouls. I think we did a good job attacking the basket and obviously attacking mismatches,” Chris Bell said in the post game press conference when asked about the Bears’ size advantage.

With just under eight minutes to go, the Bears were up 30 thanks largely to a 10 point run led by Pippen on offense and an overwhelming team ferocity on the defensive end.

Pippen’s playmaking ability, setting up Camden with another alley oop and fighting his way to the free throw line were critical to the Bears’ win.

Ames led all scorers with 22 points (7-12 from the field, 6-7 from deep), Camden chipped in a helpful 16 and Pippen had eight rebounds, six assists and two steals to go with his 14 points. Bell didn’t shoot well (4-13 from the field) but had seven rebounds. Dort had another useful night with eight boards (including three on the offensive glass) and three assists. Petraitis and Dorsey hooked up for a couple beautiful backdoor scores.

The final, 93-65, isn’t entirely reflective of the Cal defense which has shown tremendous improvement from last season. In total, the Bears forced 14 turnovers and converted them into 21 points compared to Just eight Cal turnovers.

Ames, Bell and Coach Madsen noted their excitement for the first big test of the season on Thursday against Kansas State.

“This will be a better test,” Ames said ahead of the K State matchup.

Bell echoed those sentiments and despite the 3-0 start, noted that the Bears won’t get complacent.

“As a team I don’t think we’re ever satisfied....I think coming into every game with the outlook that we play Duke UNC every night. We look at it with that same intensity” Bell said in a postgame conference.

This was Coach Madsen’s 100th career win and the first 3-0 start for him as the Bears head coach but, rather than coast on his laurels he reiterated the intense focus that the Bears have going into the Thursday matchup with a stronger Big 12 team in Kansas State.

“We need to make sure that we can handle a little bit of prosperity. We’re 3-0 but it’s early in the season... So this is going to be a battle and an unbelievable test for our players. It’s a great game for us, traveling long distance to prepare for the ACC travel. We’re excited about the challenge and we’re very aware of how talented K State is and how good of a basketball team they are,” Madsen said in the postgame press conference.