Mark Madsen knew he'd have an opportunity to see some more players in extended minutes Thursday night as his Bears squad opened up the Cal Classic against Air Force. The program announced that three players who have started games for Cal this season would be out an hour before tipoff at Haas Pavilion.

Starting point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. and guard DJ Campbell started the first four games for the Bears this season but both were out against the Falcons while key rotation player BJ Omot also missed Thursday night's contest.

Omot started Cal's previous game against USC and Nov. 7 matchup with Cal Poly.

Despite being shorthanded and without three of its top four scorers, Cal (4-1) was able to control the action Thursday against Air Force to come away with a 78-69 victory.

Madsen still went deep with his rotation in the win with nine different players seeing the floor Thursday night, but it was freshman guard Jeremiah Wilkinson who stole the show.

The Georgia native had the most productive game of his young career with 23 points to go along with 4 rebounds and an assist. Wilkinson's 23 points are the most by any Cal player in a game this season.

The 6-foot-1 guard, who played 26 minutes off the bench, was efficient with his performance by hitting 8 of his 12 shots from the field including two 3-pointers. Wilkinson also led the team with 5 free throws on 7 attempts.

"It felt great," Wilkinson said of his performance in Thursday's game. "I knew we got guys going down, it was gonna be my chance to step up and have a bigger role. So, I just wanted to take advantage and keep the wins rolling."

If not for Wilkinson's stellar performance off the bench, Andrej Stojakovic's showing against Air Force would have been the story of the game. The Stanford transfer and Cal's current leading scorer (17.8 points) set a new career high with 21 points on 8-of-19 shooting to go with 6 rebounds in the win.

He's now scored at least 17 points in the last three games and has now logged back-to-back performances with at least 20 points.

Another storyline that took a back seat to Wilkinson's breakout performance was Air Force transfer Rytis Petraitis squaring off against his former team. The junior earned his first start with the Bears and delivered with his own efficient offensive performance.

Petraitis scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 shooting from the free-throw line while also pulling in 5 rebounds and tying a team high with 2 assists.

"Those are my boys over there," Petraitis said. "They do great things for this country, and I respect them so much. They come out here and play. It was super fun, super good to see them. I was there for two years of my life, so it was some happy moments for sure."

The game started out looking like it was going to be a bit more of a challenge for the Bears as Air Force found ways to counter every Cal blow in the opening minutes. Eventually, the first of Wilkinson's two 3-pointers dropped sparking a 14-0 run that put the Bears out front by 15 points with 5:26 to play in the first half.

Air Force continued to chip away, however, and eventually worked that lead down to a single possession with 11:42 in the game. It was at that moment that the Bears again leaned on Wilkinson along with center Lee Dort to put together a run to create some separation.

The highlight of the 8-0 run was a 4-point play by Wilkinson as he was hit while connecting on his second make from 3-point range with 10:48 left on the clock.

The contributions from Dort during that stretch was part of a big second half for the Vanderbilt transfer who punctuated another run that put the Bears up 14 points with an emphatic dunk.

Though he fouled out, Dort finished the game with 9 points and 4 rebounds in 12 minutes with 8 of his points coming in the second half.

Joshua Ola-Joseph made his third start for the Bears and followed up an impactful performance in the win over USC with a strong showing versus Air Force with 8 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes.

"We have strength in numbers, that's kind of our motto this year," associate head coach Adam Mazarei said after the game. "... At any time anyone in that locker room is gonna contribute, and guys were ready. Jeremiah, man. Golden opportunity for him, and what a coming out party for him to showcase what he can do at the lead guard position. He was phenomenal.

"I thought everybody contributed who came in the game, so it's a testament to those guys, man. They watch film, they stay ready, they work out every single day, they practice hard every single day. So we were confident that next man up would be ready."

The Bears will continue the Cal Classic on Sunday when Sacramento State makes its way down to Berkeley for a 1 p.m. contest at Haas Pavilion.

Mazarei said after the game that each of the players who missed Thursday's game remain "day to day" as they work through injuries sustained in the win over USC.

"SC was a hard fought game," Mazarei said. "I think we have a tough, tough group and maybe some things kinda came up after the game, postgame. The adrenaline is rushing during games, so it's precautionary. We wanted to be smart with them. They all have a really bright future.

"It's day to day right now. They're getting treatment, they're doing what they're supposed to do medically, so we're just going from there."

Mazarei added that "hopefully" the injured Bears will be back for Sunday's matchup but reiterated that the staff won't rush them back to the floor until they are fully healthy.

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