Cal Bears Hold on, Win in Pac-12 Tournament’s First Round
It wasn’t easy or pretty, but the Cal Bears held on to beat the Oregon State Beavers in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
With their NCAA Tournament hopes hanging by a thread, the Cal Bears needed a strong performance in the Pac-12 conference championship tournament. Cal dropped their final two games in the regular season, and five of the final six games to end the season. After starting Pac-12 play with a 9-3 record and seemingly having a top-four conference tournament seed in the bag, they finished 10-8 in fifth place, meaning they wouldn’t have a bye in the first round of the Pac-12 tourney.
They still clinched the top non-bye seed, giving them a first-round matchup with the Oregon State Beavers, who finished 1-17, putting them last within the conference. Oregon State entered with one of the worst offenses in the country, while the Golden Bears entered as one of the best defensive teams. It looked like a mismatch that Cal should have run away with on paper. Of course, games aren’t played on paper.
Oregon State put together one of their best shooting performances of the season. They hit on just 33.9 percent from long range before Wednesday, but shot lights out from distance against Cal. They took 17 three-pointers and hit 10 of them, which allowed them to keep pace with the Bears as Cal again struggled to put together a consistent offensive effort.
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Stephen Thompson, Jr. led the way for Oregon, draining five of six attempts from three-point land and scoring a game-high 22 points. His teammate, Gligorije Rakocevic, listed as a 6’11 and 250-pound center, was perfect on three three-point attempts after making just five all season up to this point. The Montenegro native also tied his season-high with nine rebounds.
Cal’s defense was just strong enough, and their offense was just good enough to overpower the Beavers at the end. Jabari Bird, coming off something of a breakout season of sorts, was the high-point man for Cal, scoring 20 for his seventh 20-plus point performance of the year. He was 7-12 from the floor, including 3-6 on threes, and added three rebounds and three assists.
Ivan Rabb, Cal’s First-Team All-Pac-12 power forward, added another double-double to his resume as he tries to prolong his college career. He scored 12 points and added 13 rebounds, and was the main offensive power early in the second half.
The unsung hero of the day was senior forward Stephen Domingo. Domingo struggled terribly shooting the ball all season, shooting just 20.2 percent from the floor and 16.1 percent from deep over the course of the year. But on Wednesday, he found a stroke early and shot his way to 10 points, his second-best output of the season.
When Oregon State cut Cal’s lead down to two with about three minutes to play, it was Domingo’s straightaway three-pointer that gave the Bears’ a more comfortable advantage.He hit a pair of three-pointers, just his second game with multiple triples this year.
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Cal still has a lot of work to do, and they will have to play leagues better than they did against Oregon State if they hope to advance any deeper in the tournament. Their round two matchup is against the Utah Utes, the same team that decimated Cal to the tune of a 74-44 drubbing last week. Utah, the fourth seed, is 11-7 in the conference this season.