November 4 – John Camden scored a game-high 22 points in his Cal debut, Lee Dort missed the first double-double of his college career by one rebound and the Golden Bears routed Cal State Bakersfield 87-60 in both teams’ season opener on Monday in Berkeley, Calif.<\/p>\n
Starting four newly arrived transfers, Cal also got double-figure scoring from Dai Dai Ames with 18 points and Justin Pippen with 15 en route to the runaway win. Dort wound up with 15 points and nine rebounds.<\/p>\n
Dailin Smith and Ronald Jessamy had 16 points apiece for the Roadrunners, who were playing for the first time under new coach Mike Scott.<\/p>\n
Camden, a transfer from Delaware, where he averaged 16.8 points per game last season, got Cal’s season off to a thrilling start by turning an Ames assist into a 3-point hoop just 13 seconds into the duel of teams that had identical 14-19 records last season.<\/p>\n
With lone starting holdover Dort contributing two hoops, the Golden Bears proceeded to run off the game’s first 10 points and never trailed.<\/p>\n
A layup by Smith got Bakersfield as close as 18-16 just past the midpoint of the first half, but Camden responded with a four-point play on a 3-point hoop and Cal went on to lead 37-26 at the break.<\/p>\n
With Dort igniting things with a dunk and Camden adding a dunk of his own and another 3-pointer, Cal ran off to a 48-28 advantage in the third minute of the second period and never looked back.<\/p>\n
Camden finished with three 3-pointers in a game that featured a total just eight. Cal went 5-for-23 (21.7%) from beyond the arc, while Cal State Bakersfield made just 3 of 9.<\/p>\n
Dort shot 5-for-7, Camden 7-for-11 and Ames 9-for-15 for the Golden Bears, who outshot the visitors 54.2% to 35.8%.<\/p>\n
Pippen also found time for a game-high seven assists.<\/p>\n
Jessamy was Bakersfield’s leading rebounder with seven, while backups Mike Price and Jaden Alexander shared assist honors with three each.<\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n
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