Bears Beat Yellow Jackets, 90-85, for Fifth ACC Win

The California Golden Bears beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 90-85, at Haas Pavilion on Wednesday night as the Bears built on their one point road win last week. 

With Lee Dort still out, Milos Ilic got the start again and proved useful on the offensive and defensive glass. Otherwise, Coach Mark Madsen kept the same starters; Dai Dai Ames and Justin Pippen handling the ball, with Chris Bell and John Camden on the wings. 

“Milos has been coming into his own ... he was a big part of the win for us,” Coach Madsen said. 

The Bears started fast, jumping out to a 17-9 lead thanks in no small part to Dai Dai Ames who put up 10 of the team’s first 17.  TT Carr, DJ Campbell and DK Manyiel all got some early minutes. Campbell nabbed an errand pass and pulled up from beyond the arc to put the Bears up 20-13. 

“It felt, being able to help my team win,” Dai Dai Ames said after the game. 

Cal forced three turnovers in the first 10 minutes which translated into 6 early points for the Golden Bears. Offensively, the Bears were playing very well, finding success slashing into the paint and on off ball screens from behind the arc. Defensively, Cal closed well on the Georgia Tech shooters and swung to the help quickly, resulting in an abysmal 2-17 from deep for the Yellow Jackets. Additionally, the Bears doubled Tech’s Baye Ndongo in the corner, forcing the ball out of his hands, and one turnover. 

While Ames contributed the majority share offensively, Campbell, Camden and Pippen all chipped in as well. Camden went three for three from beyond the arc, Campbell went two for three from three and had six points while Pippen filled up the stat sheet with six points, three rebounds (including one offensive) and three assists in the first period.  

To the Yellow Jackets credit, they continued attacking the rim and, mainly by getting into the key, stayed close — for a while. Georgia Tech closed the first period with 22 points in the paint. 

That said, Cal’s shooting proved too much. Georgia Tech squandered a fast break layup with an offensive foul, down by 27 to 34, and the Bears seized the advantage, going on a 9-2 run to close the half up 43-29. 

The Yellow Jackets took the upperhand to start the second, scoring eight unanswered points as part of a 14-1 run in the opening minutes, which cut the Cal lead to just one. 

Georgia Tech stuck to their gameplan, and had 12 points in the paint in the first eight minutes of the final period, notably Cal had three turnovers over those same eight minutes. With 12 and a half minutes left in the game, the Yellow Jackets — thanks to their success in the paint (they finished with 48 points in the key) and a sudden burst of threes — led 56-54. 

Cal, not to be outworked, stayed tenacious on offense even as Georgia Tech began knocking down threes. A Pippen lay-up and made free throw helped the Bears recapture a narrow, one-point lead. Then, Cal got to the bonus with more than ten minutes left in the game and, while the slow methodical style can be a killer for a team’s offense, in this case it was very useful in tamping down the Yellow Jackets’ shooting. 

“They have a really good free throw shooting team... I thought Cal did a really good job, putting fouls on us, living at the free throw line,” Georgia Tech Coach Damon Stoudamire said after the game. 

The Bears were 11-15 from the charity strike in the first 10 minutes of the second half, with Bell and Ames going 3-4, Camden going 2-4, Illic 2-2 and Pippen 1-1. 

“Just taking it one possession at a time, doing what coach asked me to rebounding, knocking down free throws when I needed to...I need to try and foul less,” Milos Illic said of his game. He and Dai Dai Ames both played the final minutes with four fouls. 

Cal, up 61-60, found the stroke again as Ames knocked down a three and a jumper from the wing putting them up 66-62. 

“Me just reading the defense and picking out my spots,” Ames said when asked about his hot shooting night. 

The teams traded free throws as Tech reached the bonus with about seven minutes left in the game. However, the Yellow Jackets’ Lamar Washington missed two critical bonus free throw chances that the Bears were able to use to their advantage. A solid off-ball screen left Bell open at the top of the arc for a three, then a powerful Ilic dropstep gave him an easy reverse lay-in to put Cal up 72-65 with about five minutes left. 

Pippen had a robust second half with six points (two and ones) another three assists and three boards, a steal and a block on an impeccable challenge while Tech’s Kam Craft drove to the hoop. Additionally, Pippen had a remarkably timely offensive board off an Ames’ missed free throw.  

All told, Cal’s ball movement and impressive shooting proved too much for Georgia Tech. The Bears won, 90-85. 

Offensively, the Bears moved well both with and without the ball. Illic delivered a beautiful chest pass to Camden for a lay-in, Bell had the previously mentioned three thanks to a crisp off-ball screen and netted another three from the wing with a wily pump fake (he finished with 14 points, going 3-5 from deep). 

Ames led all scorers with a career-high 29 (9-13 from the field, 3-4 from beyond the arc, 6-8 from the line). All five Cal starters scored double digits: Pippen with 12 on a tough shooting night; Camden with 13 including 3-4 from deep; Illic finished with 11 points (7-7 from the charity strike) and nine rebounds and Chris Bell with 14 going 3-5 from beyond the arc. 

“These guys play for each other, they play incredibly hard,” said Coach Madsen after the game.