Without a question Cal was handed its worst loss of the season Tuesday night.
The Bears went into a 23-point hole against Cornell at Haas Pavilion, but a late push still wasn’t enough to bring Mark Madsen’s team all the way back in what ended as an 88-80 victory for the Big Red – their first over an ACC team since 1951.
Cal looked out of sorts for long stretches of the game and eventually went down 52-29 with 18:14 to play. Back-to-back 3-pointers for Jeremiah Wilkinson sparked the first of several runs for the Bears and eventually led to Cal trimming the lead down to 8 points, 56-48, with 13:58 left.
Every time Cal thought it had gained some footing, however, Cornell responded with just enough of a run to keep the Bears at bay. The Bears (6-4) used an 11-2 run that was capped by a 3-pointer for Andrej Stojakovic to take their only lead of the second half with 5:15 to go.
Cornell (7-3) then put together its own 11-2 run to take an 8-point lead, 82-74, with 48 seconds to play sealing the third consecutive loss for the Bears.
Though the Bears were able to weather the storm by outscoring Cornell 51-41 in the second half, the opening 20 minutes were a disaster for Madsen’s team.
Seemingly, the only spark was forward Joshua Ola-Joseph who carried the Bears with 16 points in the opening half. He hit four 3-pointers to start the game and helped keep Cal afloat while the rest of the lineup struggle to find any rhythm offensively.
Big man Mady Sissoko was the only other player to score more than 4 points in the first half Tuesday night.
While the offensive issues were one thing, it was the defense that proved to be the biggest problem against the Big Red. Cornell abused the Bears with back cuts throughout the night at Haas Pavilion leading to 44 points in the paint.
Cal’s perimeter defense struggled as well leading to several open looks throughout the game and ending with Cornell connecting on nine 3-pointers.
The defensive miscues combined with 18 turnovers and shooting just 35.7% from the floor in the first half ultimately proved costly for the Bears in their first loss to a mid-major this year.
Ola-Joseph finished the night with a career-high 21 points on an efficient 7-for-11 shooting performance, including five 3-pointers, to go with 8 rebounds and an assist. Sissoko had his best scoring performance at Cal with 13 points to mark his third consecutive game finishing in double figures.
He also grabbed 8 rebounds in the loss for the Bears.
Point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. had 11 points and a game-high 7 assists while Andrej Stojakovic was marred by two early fouls throwing off his effectiveness for most of the game.
The Bears’ leading scorer finished the game with 13 points and 5 rebounds in what was Stojakovic’s lowest-scoring game of the season and the first time this year he finished with anything fewer than 15 points.
It was another particularly challenging night for freshman guard Jeremiah Wilkinson, who was held scoreless in the first half and missed all seven of his shot attempts. He was more effective in the second half and contributed 12 points, including the two big 3-pointers early out of the break.
Cal shot 44% from the floor in the game and won the rebounding battle, 43-35, but allowed three Cornell players to score at least 18 points in the loss. The Bears struggled to find an answer for Big Red forward and Clovis native AK Okereke, who ended the night with 24 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals.
The Bears will look to break their current three-game losing streak Saturday when they return to the floor at Haas Pavilion for a noon matchup with Northwestern State.
