Bears Roll Over CS East Bay in Basketball exhibition

It wasn’t the most stylish of wins, and Cal will have to play a lot more effectively to win in the Pac-12, but the Bears did come out on top Tuesday night over Cal-State East Bay, 82-62,, at Haas Pavilion.

The game was an exhibition and will not count in win-loss record, nor will the stats be entered into the official record. But Wyking Jones, launching his second season as the Bears head coach, was able to see his young roster compete against someone besides themselves.

"I saw some good things, Jones said. "I told the guys throughout the course of the game when we move the ball and make the defense work, we get really good looks. We got in the lane and penetration for a dump off, penetration for a lob. But I think far too many times we came down, one dribble, handoff and a shot. One pass shot. I think we played too much one-on-one basketball. Moving forward we need to play more team basketball. 

"We’ve got room for improvement."

Point guard Paris Austin, the transfer from Boise State who had to sit out last year, finally got on the court and pretty much gave the Bearts what they had hoped for.

"Statistically he looked good," Jones said "He finished the game with eight assists and that is eomstheing that we didn't see last year. Any time you get eight assists from your point guard. Eight assists and 15 points..But I felt like he pushed the issue a little bit too much at times. Got in the lane and tried to score when he could have kicked out. But overall I thought he was solid."

The four freshmen Jones is counting on to help the Bears improve on last year’s 8-24 record --Matt Bradley, Andre Kelly, Connor Vanover and Jacobi Gordon --  all got meaningful minutes in their respective Cal debuts.

"I thought they were solid as well," Jones said. "There was a couple of times when Connor didn't get back on defense and they made us pay. I didn't feel like they were nervous, and for freshmen that's a big step. I felt Andre was very comfortable out there. I felt like Connor was comfortable out there. I was happy that I didn't see any fear in their eyes."

Bradley led the Bears with 18 points, while Austin and Sueing had 15 each."Tonight I knew playing in my first game I had to be really aggressive," Bradley said. "Get to the rim, play hard."

"I felt like as a team we need to get better in transition defense," Austin said, echoing his coach.  "Offensive rebounding. And we took a lot of rushed shots tonight. I think everybody is excited just to get out there and play. It is definitely something we have to work on."

The Bears did wind up shooting 54.9 per cent from the floor after hitting just 48 per cent in the first half. 

Cal was without guard Juhwan Harris-Dyson and forward Roman Davis. Harris-Dyson is officially listed as “day-to-day” with a hand injury, but he did not suit up for the Tuesday night game. A starter for most of last season Harris-Dyson averaged 6.2 points per game,

Davis has academic issues. The Bears news release said the school was working with the NCAA on an “eligibility waiver.” The 6-7 junior forward has been attending class and practicing with the team, but is not scheduled to travel to China for the official season opener against Yale in Shanghai. He played in 25 games last year all off the bench, averaging 1.9 points and 2.1 rebounds.

Cal took control of Tuesday night’s game early, opening a 12-point lead with an 11-0 run and the Pioneers did not get any closer the rest of the half. All of the freshmen had a hand in the spurt, as did sophomore Justic Sueing.

The Pioneers did take advantage of some cold Cal shooting and carelessness to get a little closer in the second half. Josh Dhatt hit a three and suddenly the visitors were within 11 and had a littoe momentum.  But in a remarkable sequence Sueing and Gordon hit treys within two seconds of elapsed time and ten seconds later Gordon was on the line for two free throws. That made the score 53-34 and that was pretty much that.

Vanover had only field goal, but it was a beauty. He took an alley-oop pass from Austin and slammed it home. “Me and Connor we work that in practice so much," Austin said. "I was reading the defense. We had gotten into our play and I rejected the screen. Someone came out on me and I saw Connor from the side of my eye and I put it up. He caught it and it was a great play by him.”

The crowd was announced as 3568, but that was a genrous count.

The Bears next take the court in China, November 9. They return to the mainlaind for two games, Nov. 13 and 15 before taking off for Brooklyn and two games there. They are certainly racking up the miles