Bears Best Presbyterian 65-57 at Haas Pavilion

The California Golden Bears beat the Presbyterian Blue Hose 65-57 on Tuesday night at Haas Pavilion in the opening game of the Empire Classic. 

While the starting five of Dai Dai Ames, Justin Pippen, Chris Bell, John Camden and Lee Dort have dominated early on offense in several matchups this season, the Bears and Blue Hose were knotted at nine after the first five minutes. Cal allowed two offensive rebounds that led to Presbyterian scores but a Dort dunk and mid range jumpers from Ames and Bell helped even the score. 

Two corner threes from Bell in the first 10 minutes gave the Bears a slim 12-11 lead, but the Presbyterian defense forced a shot clock violation to stifle Cal’s momentum. On offense, Presbyterian drove well, earning several early free throw attempts. 

“Chris Bell is someone that works so hard on his craft,” head coach Mark Madsen said in a post game press conference. 

Presbyterian was able to stay relatively close by driving to the hoop, collecting offensive rebounds and earning free throws. That said, Dort dished to a cutting Camden for a layup and the Bears had a three point lead going into the under eight timeout. 

“A tough opponent, Presbyterian...they have imposing physical players and I was proud of our guys,” Madsen said. 

He noted that while the Blue Hose won the battle on the glass in the first half, the halftime adjustments, specifically about rebounding, were key to a Cal victory. 

Cal stretched the lead to seven in the next four minutes or so but Presbyterian’s defense fought hard and had success driving the lane. Dort anchored the Bears’ offense with an offensive rebound of his own, leading to a lay-in and a lefty baby hook from the center of the lane. 

The Blue Hose strung together a 7-0 run in the waning minutes of the first half to tie it at 29 before an Ilic lay-in gave the Bears a narrow 31-29 lead. 

Offensively, the Bears played relatively well in the first half with seven assists to three turnovers while shooting 48 percent from the field. Bell started hot and ended the first half with 10 points and a 50 percent three point shooting percentage. Pippen had five assists compared to no turnovers and Dort went 4-4 in the first half and added five rebounds. 

“We have a lot of guys that can perform,” Lee Dort said. 

Despite Dort’s effort, Cal struggled on the glass and allowed Presbyterian to get 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, which helped the Blue Hose stay close. 

Rytis Petraitis also added five points and two blocks from the bench during the first half. Dort and Petraitis, combined with the hot offensive start from Bell gave the Bears a slim lead at half. 

The first half was physical throughout as both teams fought hard through off-ball screens and picked up full-court at various points. 

Additionally, the Bears ran more zone than in any previous games, throwing the two-three and three-two full court at the Blue Hose on multiple occasions. 

“We repped our zones all summer. We used it a couple times at Kansas State and we used it more tonight. Presbyterian does a great job of controlling the tempo, they use most of the shot clock and make you guard multiple actions and consequently, when they’re in the half court, it’s a slow pace game... We needed a change of rhythm and our guys did a good job doing that,” Madsen said of the zone looks. 

The battle continued in the second half as the Blue Hose took a brief 34-33 lead thanks to a three and slashing lay-in before Ames finished strong at the rim and Camden sank a three to put the Bears back up by three, 39-36 with just under 16 minutes left in the game. 

Bell on the baseline proved to be the most fruitful offensive angle on Tuesday night. His aforementioned hot start was central to the Bears slim lead in the first half and he finished with 14 points. But even with his hot shooting (6-12 from the field, 2-6 from three) Presbyterian collected offensive rebounds and hung around, nailing a three with just over 12 minutes left in the game to again take the lead, 44-43. 

“That was unacceptable and at halftime we circled the rebound differential and put it on the white board and we said to win the game, that must change in the second half. And it did,” Madsen said. 

Petraitis was impressive on defense, picking up smaller guards on the perimeter and battling with the big men down low, he finished with three blocks. 

Camden had a stellar second half performance with 18 points, including a three from the wing which he earned from a useful pump fake that sent the Presbyterian defender into the first row. A Dort lay-in gave the Bears their largest lead of the night at that point, 53-46, with just over eight minutes left in the game. 

“We made that mental adjustment at halftime that we needed to toughen up so I just decided to kind of be more in attack mode in the second half and my teammates found me so I think that’s where that kind of second half spark came from,” John Camden said. 

Again the Blue Hose battled back, pulling it to 53-51 before a Pippen drive and free throw staved off a longer run and pushed the Bears’ lead to three. 

Presbyterian was able to hang relatively close thanks largely to their offensive rebounding, collecting 16 rebounds and converting them to 17 second-chance points. 

Camden was critical as the game wound down, earning a late trip to the line and completed an and-one which put Cal up 61-53 in the final three minutes. He finished with 20 points going 6-12 from the field and 6-7 from the free throw line.  

Some tenacious defense and quick drives to the hoop on offense from Camden kept the Blue Hose at bay and the Bears won 67-57, stamping the win with a ferocious Dort tomahawk slam. 

“We have to have different ways to win. Our defense took a step this summer ... you have to find a way to win in another way and tonight we did it with defense,” Madsen said.