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Cal's magical season ends with loss to Duke
By Morris Phillips March 21, 2010 |
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For a lot of reasons, the Cal Bears are done. Top-seeded Duke factors heavily into that. But it really took a lethal combination of circumstances and misfortune to kill the Bears, and in a 68-53 loss to the Blue Devils, Cal achieved a respectable end to their historic season in spite of all the obstacles. “They’re a great basketball team,” Coach Mike Montgomery said of Duke. “But I feel like we can hold our heads high, that we competed, just couldn’t make it happen.” Duke’s defense dictated the outcome, as the Blue Devils held Cal to a season-low 24 points in the first half, and 25 points below their season average of 78 points per game. Cal struggled with Duke’s superior size as the Bears received invitations to the painted area, but once they got there, they were treated as unwelcome intruders. Also, the Blue Devils plan to limit Cal’s top guns, Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher, was well executed. “They simply were not going to let Pat catch the ball, and the same thing with Jerome. So we had a difficult time. And that’s what’s happened all year long; when those two guys are not able to get shots or make points, we struggle a little bit because we don’t have five guys that can score numbers,” Montgomery said. “We stuck with their shooters. We couldn’t give them any breathing room, and we just really stuck with them. We really gave them no open looks on ball screens,” Duke’s Nolan Smith said. In addition, Christopher missed nearly seven minutes early to get bleeding on his eye brow under control. Against Louisville, Cal’s senior off guard was the catalyst in the big start, in this one, he was in the locker room getting stitches at the start. Duke took advantage of a lot of things early, not just Christopher’s absence. Miles Plumlee, Kyle Singler and Brian Zoubek got off to big starts as the Blue Devils were persistent in getting the ball inside where the Bears were outnumbered and undersized. Jamal Boykin was up to the physical battle put forth by his old team, but Max Zhang was overmatched, and in Amondi Omoke’s absence, Theo Robertson and Christopher had to battle bigger players throughout. Duke established a double-digit lead on Singler’s 3-pointer with 5:34 remaining before halftime, and never looked back. Cal remained gritty and within striking range, until midway through the second half. With Duke misfiring on seven straight possessions, the Bears had a chance to get closer than nine points, but came up empty on a three straight offensive trips. Duke responded with a pair of baskets from Zoubek, and one each from Singler and Smith to push their lead to 15 with 11:34 remaining. Cal never got closer than 13 after that. With the win, Duke advances to the Sweet 16 for the 19th time in 26 NCAA appearances under Coach Mike Krzyzewski, making their presence in the second weekend of the tournament almost a certainty. But the Blue Devils have struggled in recent years, lacking a physical presence to go with outstanding shooting. This Duke group doesn’t have that problem as their interior players wore Cal down at both ends. Now Duke moves on to Houston for the South Regional were they will meet resurgent Purdue next, and either Baylor or St. Mary’s if they get by the Boilermakers. With the ride over, Cal now turns to next season without their prolific seniors. The Bears will welcome the return of post defender Harper Kamp and heralded recruits Gary Franklin and Allan Crabbe. The Bears won’t be as skilled offensively, so the hope will be that they will be improved and more versatile defensively. But the result is that Randle and Christopher with their scoring and leadership in bringing the Pac-10 championship to Berkeley have established their place in Cal basketball history. That’s quite a legacy, along with the team's respectable ending to the historical season. |
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