Cal Sweeps Battle of the Bay at Haas Pavilion

The Cal Golden Bears beat archrival the Stanford Cardinal, 72-66, at Haas Pavilion on Saturday afternoon. Saturday’s victory secured the season sweep in the Battle of the Bay for the Bears. 

Milos Illic started again on Saturday afternoon. He’s been offensively effective (he had six points, three assists and three offensive rebounds on Saturday) in big man Lee Dort’s absence. Dort warmed up with the team but his timetable for return is still unclear. Beyond that, the starters were the same with Dai Dai Ames and Justin Pippen in the backcourt and John Camden and Chris Bell in the frontcourt. 

Ames provided the offensive spark for the Bears in the first half and finished the period with 13 points going 5-10 from the field. Bell and Camden also found their range in the first half putting up 10 and 9 points, respectively (Bell was 2-3 from deep). Overall, the unselfishness proved incredibly useful as the Bears made the extra pass and found the open look several times in the first half. 

“When we share the ball...when we’re playing like that, and our whole team’s connected. We have a lot of shooters out there, it’s a lot of fun,” Camden said after the game. 

The Bears took an early lead but the score remained close for the majority of the first half. Stanford’s Ebuka Okorie scored the team’s first seven points and was the Cardinal’s main offensive bright spot. 

Defensively, the Bears rotated well on helpside, successfully trapped the wings and forced into 9 turnovers in the first period which they translated to eight points. 

With about 10 minutes left in the first half, the Bears held a narrow, 14-9 lead. The ensuing three minutes proved pivotal for Cal as an Ilic assist to Bell on a baseline backdoor cut pushed the lead slightly. At this point, Ames was heating up and the energy was contagious, the crowd got increasingly raucous as the Bears really put the pedal down on offense. 

“The students absolutely filled up that student section. They filled up that student section, they were screaming at the Stanford players, respectfully, on free throws,” Coach Mark Madsen said after the game. 

An Ames crossover freed up the lane and he attacked the rim. Stanford went to cover and left Bell open in the corner, Ames dished and Bell netted the triple to put Cal up 21-16. An Ames lean-away from the top of the key pushed the Cal lead to seven. Then Bell, on the extra pass, found Camden in the corner for three and just like that the Bears were up nine with about six minutes left in the half. An Ames layup in the fastbreak, another Ilic assist to a backdoor cutting Camden gave Cal its first double digit lead, 32-21. 

Cal kept the pressure on with a smothering man to man defense and a continued offensive attack. The Bears closed the half with a wide open Bell three coming from an unselfish extra pass: 39-25 Cal at halftime. 

The Bears opened the second half strong with a Camden three on the fastbreak followed by a Pippen three to go up 11. A series of free throws kept the Cal lead in double-digits and a Mantas Kocanas hoop and the harm gave the Bears their biggest lead of the night, 52-38 with about 12 minutes left in the game. 

To Stanford’s credit, they fought back from 14 down and trailed by six with under six minutes to go in the game. Ebuka Okorie put up a double-double and proved incredibly effective both inside and out of the key. With under 10 minutes to go, the game slowed down dramatically as Stanford attacked the rim and got to the free throw line (they were 3-8 from the charity strike in the first half and 15-21 in the second). Despite the slower pace, Ames, Camden and Bell all hit from deep. As the game slowed, Stanford was able to incrementally cut the lead, eventually drawing it down to a two possession game as mentioned. 

“You have to give a lot of credit to Stanford because they never went away... Aidan Cammann was just attacking us, he got to the free throw line 19 times,” Coach Madsen said after the game. 

The crowd erupted as Cal cracked the game open with under five minutes to go as their strong perimeter defense led to an opportunity in transition for Bell gave the Bears a solid, double-digit lead, 66-53. 

Stanford continued to fight but the Bears held on to beat their rivals at home, 72-66, pushing their conference record to 7-7 and their overall record to 18-8. 

The Golden Bears take on the SMU Mustangs on Wednesday, Feb. 25 for a critical ACC matchup. 

Cal’s win on Saturday stemmed largely from the unselfish play on offense — the Bears finished with 11 assists but the willingness to make the extra pass was critical to the victory — and gritty, tenacious defense on the perimeter. Cal held Stanford to just 33.3 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from deep. 

“When our guys take pride in one on one individual defense, the whole world changes. Our guys do but to be able to lock in and do that over the course of 40 minutes is very very difficult to do,” Coach Madsen said post game. 

The selflessness on offense is exemplary of Cal’s potential for a tournament run and the offensive spark gets the players excited. 

“We love being around each other and I think that’s the point of it. We love seeing each other make shots...It’s fun to play that way,” Bell said of the unselfishness on offense.