Defensive collapse costs Cal as Bears lose third straight

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. — What just two nights earlier had helped put Cal in position to earn a victory ultimately led to its third consecutive loss Wednesday. The Bears allowed Tulane to score 55 points in the second half of the teams' consolation game in the Surf Division at the SoCal Challenge.

A lead that was once at 11 points in favor of Mark Madsen's team was quickly erased in a span of just over five minutes in the second half.

The end result was an 84-81 loss for the Bears (2-4) despite standout performances on the offensive end from Jaylon Tyson, Fardaws Aimaq and Jalen Cone who combined for 65 of Cal's points in the game.

"We had a good first half, and our second half we were not able to sustain our defense," Madsen said. "Obviously, Tulane scored 55 points in the second half, they attacked us in one-on-one scenarios and we have to be better. We have to be better defensively in terms of one-on-one defense, help-side defense.

"They put their heads down, they attacked us, they spun on us, they made baskets and they drew fouls. So, give them credit. They definitely took this one and they earned it. That was a close one, and we will watch the film and improve our defense."

The key stretch came with just under 12 minutes to play after a big transition dunk for Gus Larson and the Bears. After that moment, the Green Wave — which played the game without head coach Ron Hunter who was at the team hotel under the weather — began a 20-9 run that evened the game at 67 points with 6:48 to play.

That sparked a back and forth between the two teams before a couple empty possessions for Cal allowed Tulane (4-1) to gain control and a 6-point lead with 2:22 to go.

The Bears were never able to get back over the hump and a late opportunity to tie came up empty when Aimaq lost a ball out of bounds after a steal from Tyson created the possession with Cal down 83-81 and under a minute to play.

In addition to the struggles on the defensive end of the floor in the second half, the carelessness with the ball on offense returned for a third consecutive game for the Bears. During its three-game losing streak, Cal has turned the ball over an average of 19 times.

The team is still shorthanded playing its third consecutive game without starting point guard Devin Askew, in addition to Jalen Celestine and Keonte Kennedy, leaving the Bears with some different players to handle the ball.

It has not gone well when it comes to taking care of the ball, but the offense found a much better flow in the loss to Tulane. It led to the Bears having another opportunity for a late victory after falling by 3 points just two nights earlier.

"Just growing together as a team," Cone said about what the Bears need to do to close out games. "Learning how to execute and get stops and put games away. We got a lot of close games, we gotta learn how to not let the game get close and go ahead and win the game and put teams away early."

Cal has relied on its transfers quite a bit already this season and that was not more evident than in Wednesday's matchup. The trio of Cone, Tyson and Aimaq carried the scoring load for the Bears, and Madsen has been pleased with the play of that group through six games.

"These players have been outstanding," the Cal head coach said. "They've been outstanding all year. It's an honor to coach them. I'm disappointed I didn't do a better job as the head coach to not get us over the hump tonight. We will get better, we will improve and we will learn from this."

Monday night after the Bears' loss to UTEP, Aimaq went into the stands to confront a fan who allegedly hurled racial comments toward the Cal big man, whose family is from Afghanistan, including calling him a terrorist. Prior to Wednesday's game, Madsen and the program released a statement condemning the taunting from the fan and calling for an investigation into the matter.

After the game, Madsen again made clear his stance on the situation and again reiterated his hope that Aimaq can learn to control himself in such moments and not go after the fan.

"That situation, first of all, we stand with Fardaws," Madsen said. "That should never, ever be said to anyone in an athletic competition setting or any other setting. I also obviously spoke to Fardaws because from personal experience in the NBA typically good things do not happen when a player goes into the stands to confront the situation. So I spoke to him about that, but the main thing message was, 'I'm sorry that you had to experience that, I'm sorry that happened.'

"We went directly to the tournament, we asked that that fan be banned completely from this venue and we requested an investigation into the matter."

Aimaq finished Wednesday night's game with 23 points and 14 rebounds in 33 minutes for the Bears.