Bears Wake Up From Hibernation, Down Northwestern State 79-70

BERKELEY - It took nearly the whole 40 minutes of the game for the Bears to awake from hibernation but a late 12-0 run spared 10-1 Cal from a major upset as the Bears pulled away late for a 79-70 at Haas Pavilion Saturday afternoon.

“I thought the second half we came out with, at times, a tremendous sense of urgency in terms of communication, in terms of being there to help a teammate out, and we have to do that for 40 minutes,” head coach Mark Madsen said after the game. “And as we can improve and build into that, our defense will get even better.”

Despite playing poorly much of the game, the Bears had several notable statistical performances, with forward John Camden‍ scoring a Cal career high 25 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 6-for-9 from 3. Frosh Semetri Carr‍ had a stellar game with 14 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds in the win. Center Lee Dort‍ also had a career high 13 rebounds to go along with 9 points and 3 assists, including some particularly sharp passes.

With starting point guard Justin Pippen‍ out with what was described a day-to-day injury, Carr‍ got his first start of his collegiate career. The former Redwood High School prep took advantage of the increased playing time right out of the gate, scoring 7 of Cal’s first 20 points and leading with 10 at the break while also adding a couple early rebounds and assists, including an impressive pass that led to a Chris Bell‍ free throws early in the opening minutes.

“TT Carr was outstanding,” Madsen said. “You look at his line, 4-for-7 from the field, 2-for-5 from three, perfect from the free throw line. The big one that stood out to me was 7 assists, only 1 turnover. And TT, he continues to make everyone around him better. He's tough, he's intense. Yes, he's a freshman, but he doesn't play like a freshman, and that was great to see. You know, with with Pip out right now, we don't win that game without TT Carr.”

Just as they had against D2 Dominican, the Bears struggled early against an inferior opponent with Northwestern State coming in just 2-7 with several blowout losses, getting down 6 points with five minutes left in the half. The Demons built their lead by hitting 10 of the first 17 shots (59%) while holding the Bears to just 6-of-17 (35%) in the same timeframe.

A 3 from guard Dai Dai Ames‍ (20 points on 8-of-20 shooting) with 5:03 left followed by a Milos Ilic‍ putback quickly cut the deficit to 1 in the next minute. They finally retook the lead on a rare Nolan Dorsey‍ 3 followed by a forced turnover by Dorsey and a 3 from Camden with a minute left in the half. After guard Justin Redmond hit a 3 with 5 seconds left in the half to retake the lead, the Bears evened the score at the buzzer on a driving Ames bucket as time expired, knotting the game at 37-all.

The Bears’ uneven play continued in the opening minutes of the second half as they went down 3 on a pair of Northwestern treys but a 3 from Camden and a steal and heady assist and reverse layup to a cutting Ames gave the Bears the lead, 48-46 with 16:37 remaining. Another 3 from Miles, a turnover and a wide open floater in the key by Miles gave the Demons the lead again at the 15:30 mark as the Bears continued to struggle. Three minutes later, the Demons went up 5 on a 3-point play by forward Mustafa Loum and a Loum alley oop slam with 12:19 left in the game.

The Bears fought back to tie it minutes later but a Jumawan 3 put the Demons up 3 with 7:23 left. A dunk by Dort followed by an Ames layup and a Camden dunk on a nice backdoor pass from Dort gave the Bears a 3-point lead with 4:39 remaining. A pair of Carr free throws and two more from Dort followed by a Dorsey layup completed a 12-0 Cal run, giving the Bears the 74-65 lead with two minutes left. The Bears held Northwestern State scoreless for 6:17 during that stretch to finally take control of the game and close out the win for the Bears with their 7^th straight win.

The Bears will next face Morgan State Friday night at 7 pm at Haas Pavilion.

Closing Notes:

After the game, Madsen provided an update on Pippen’s health prognosis:

“Justin's going going through a process with with our trainer and our medical people and as we get updates, we'll share those. I would anticipate this in the short to medium term. 

“Justin is just a huge part of this team, obviously. You know, not having him tonight, it's hard, because he is such a great leader. He is such a great player. Guys stepped up, and that's what team is all about. But as we receive updates on Justin, we'll definitely share those with you.”