Men's Basketball: Cal Tops Presbyterian, 67-57, in Hard-Fought Battle
John Camden's strong second-half puts a snag in the Blue Hoses' upset plans
A few facts about tonight’s opponent Presbyterian College;
Based in Clinton SC, Presbyterian is a private liberal arts college with approximately 1200 students.
Their sports teams are officially the ‘Presbyterian Blue Hose’. The origin is similar to Red Sox/White Sox from the late 1800’s into early 1900’s, a reference to the color of choice or their socks/stocking/legwear.
They are a member of the Big South Conference, finishing 14-19 last season.
Their mascot is a Scottish highlander in a blue-themed kilt.
Famous alumni include former NFL Pro-Bowler Justin Bethel.
Presbyterian entered the game with a 3-3 record. Their most recent game was a 64-62 loss to Sacramento State this past Sunday in their opening game of the Empire Classic.
The Blue Hose were more than up to the task in the first half. Cal grabbed an early small lead, 12-11 at the 12-minute mark. Chris Bell picked up right where he left off from the Kansas State game, hitting a pair of corner 3-point shots to pace Cal early on. Cal maintained a constant 5-point lead for most of the half, but could not push it higher. After shooting a respectable 13-of-22 for the first 15 minutes of the game, Cal only hit 1-of-8 to end the half. The Blue Hose outrebounded Cal 22 to 13 in the half, including 10 offensive rebounds that they converted into 9 second chance points. At the half, Cal held a narrow 31-29 lead. Chris Bell scored 10 points and Lee Dort added 8.
The Blue Hose grabbed the lead 34-33 after a 3-point shot from Blue Hose Guard Carl Parrish. Cal reclaimed the lead after a Dai Dai Ames transition layup, and maintained a small lead for the next several minutes. With Cal leading 43-41, Presbyterian grabbed their 13th offensive rebound, and Carl Parrish knocked down the long-range 3-point basket to reclaim the lead for Presbyterian, 44-43, at the 12-minute mark.
Cal went on a 10-2 run to gain their largest lead of the game, 53-46 with just over 8 minutes left. John Camden started attacking the basket and Dai Dai Ames hit a clutch short jumper in the short run.
Presbyterian would not go away. Carl Parrish once again hit a timely 3-pointer for the Blue Hose to start their mini-run, as Presbyterian was able to cut the lead back down to two, 53-51.
John Camden continued to attack the basket, driving in for two layups as Cal pushed the lead back to seven, 61-54 with just over two minutes left. The Blue Hose could not get any closer, as Cal held steady over the last two minutes for the 67-57 win.
Why was the game this close? A couple statistics jump out;
For the first time this season, Cal lost the rebounding battle, 34 to 30. Of note, the Blue Hose collected 16 offensive rebounds and convert them into 17 second chance points.
Cal was inefficient at the free throw line, hitting only 9-of-16 shots.
Presbyterian did just enough to stick around. Carl Parrish led the Blue Hose with 16 points. He connected on a clutch basket on multiple occasions when it appeared Cal was going to push the game out of reach.
How did Cal win? A couple numbers from the second half;
In the first half, John Camden scored only 2 points, including 0-of-4 from long range. Camden scored 18 second half points in a variety of ways, 6 points from inside the arc, 6 points on 3-point shots, and 6 points at the free throw line. When asked about halftime adjustments, Camden said; ”I thought I was pretty soft in the first half. I think as a team we were pretty soft, so I just kind of made that mental adjustment at halftime that we needed to toughen up. So I just decided to be more in attack mode in the second half, and my teammates found me.”
Though Cal lost the overall rebounding battle, Cal won the second half battle 17 to 12. After the game, Coach Madsen had several comments on rebounding; ”I thought Presbyterian won the physicality battle in the first half, decisively, but I thought out guys responded and were much more physical in the second half…..And what we did at halftime is we circled the rebounding differential…and we said to win the game, this must change in the second half. But that was totally unacceptable [tonight]. We were just a step slow tonight.”
Cal continues to shoot well overall. Cal shot 70% from inside the arc, and a respectable 35% from behind the arc. In addition to Camden’s 20 points, Lee Dort added 15 points on the interior, and Chris Bell added 14 points from inside and outside.
The energy was low at Haas Pavilion, with an announced attendance of 1,894. Cal also displayed low energy, as evidenced by the rebounding deficit. Nonetheless, it never felt as if Cal was at risk, and the Bears bought enough energy and shooting to pull ahead down the stretch for the 10-point victory.
Cal plays Sacramento State Friday evening at Haas Pavilion, in the second on-campus game of the Empire Classic 4-team round robin. The Hornets are coached by Mike Bibby, and have Shaqir O’Neal (Shaquille’s son) playing at Forward position. It Scottie Pippen returns to watch his son play for Cal, there may be a mini-NBA reunion at Haas. Cal concludes the Empire Classic next Tuesday, facing the UCLA Bruins at the Chase Center in a nationally televised ESPN game.
Credit Presbyterian for finding ways to score despite not having their PG. They crashed the boards and hit their shots. And they defended energetically. The Cal zone (calzone?) finally locked them down.
No idea why we were shooting like Shaq at the line. Can't do that when we're prone to go cold from the field. We just looked out of sync with players misreading each other. Maybe we were still spent after playing K State (checks notes) last Thursday?
The Bears’ calzone suffocated the Hose’ offense with lahar-like flows of melted mozzarella and hot prosciutto.