Cal storms back in second half to stun Stanford
Cal senior Marcus Lee said he had no doubt his team would come back from a 16-point hole in the final eight minutes to beat rival Stanford on Saturday night.
Coach Wyking Jones wouldn’t go that far, but he recognized the seeds of a rally that produced a stunning 77-74 victory in the Pac-12 opener at Maples Pavilion.
“Once we cut it below 10, I felt like we had a great chance to win if we could just get (defensive) stops,” he said. “We were scoring.”
The Bears, in fact, scored on 11 of their final 13 possessions to erase a 66-50 deficit and send home the announced crowd of 4,293 wondering what it had just seen.
Stanford coach Jerod Haase knew exactly what happened. “Our inability to make free throws and get stops down the stretch,” he said, going to the heart of the matter.
The Cardinal missed 16 free throws and scored just four points in the final 3 1/2 minutes.
Freshman Justice Sueing scored eight of his 18 points in the final 2:45, including a driving layup and free throw with 29.2 seconds left that put Cal in front 75-73.
The Bears (7-7, 1-0) were coming off an embarrassing 108-81 home loss to Portland State four days before Christmas. They had lost to Division II Chaminade and by 27 points to Central Arkansas.
But a week of practice that stressed trusting each other paid off with a euphoric post-game celebration.
“Once we do things together, nothing can stop us” Sueing said.
Lee, who grew up watching this rivalry from his East Bay home, played in the game for the first time after returning from three seasons at Kentucky. “To be in the rivalry was epic for me,” Lee said after scoring 19 points on 9-for-11 shooting.
Said Jones, “Really, really proud of the guys for the fight, not throwing in the towel, believing we had a chance to get it done even though we were down pretty much the entire game.”
Cal shot just 30 percent in the first half, with scoring droughts of 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 minutes, as Stanford (68, 0-1) led by as many as 17 points.
But Cal converted 61 percent in the second half and got contributions all around. Freshman Darius McNeill scored 13 points, including two big 3-pointers late, and Don Coleman shook off a poor shooting night to score 15, capped by two free throws to ice the win with 17 seconds left.
Senior Michael Humphrey had 15 points and 13 rebounds for Stanford, while Pac-12 scoring leader Reid Travis also put up 15. Dorian Pickens, in his first game back after missing 11 with a left foot injury, scored 13 points but made just three of 11 shots.
“We’re not going to give in. We’re disappointed and discouraged by this game,” Haase said. “The plan is to do better.”