The momentum Cal built Tuesday with a double-overtime win over Virginia Tech to open the ACC Tournament made a sudden shift Wednesday. The Bears went into their second-round matchup with rival Stanford shorthanded after injuries that happened late in the game Tuesday to starting guards Jeremiah Wilkinson and Jovan Blacksher Jr. left both players unavailable for the rivalry matchup in Charlotte.

That meant much of the scoring load would be left for Andrej Stojakovic to bear. The former Stanford wing stepped up against his former team and scored a career-high 37 points, but it wouldn't be enough to close out the Cardinal in what ended as a 78-73 loss for Cal.

Down 76-73 with under 10 seconds to play, Stojakovic had one last opportunity to send the game into overtime, which would have been the third consecutive game with extra periods for the Bears, but the Mady Sissoko was called for an illegal screen on the play giving the ball back to the Cardinal (19-12) and ultimately sealing the loss.

The Bears (14-19) had control of the game for most of the first half behind a stellar showing from Stojakovic out of the gate, but eventually a 9-0 run to close the half put the Bears in a 38-32 hole at the break.

Cal went down by 8, 40-32, early in the second half before its leading scorer got back to work. Stojakovic guided a 9-2 run for the Bears that helped them shrink the deficit and ultimately take a 3-point lead, 57-54, with 10:54 to play.

Stojakovic was aided by DJ Campbell in the second half and that duo accounted for 36 of the Bears' 41 points in the second half. Campbell was able to make several impressive plays when the Bears needed them most, and that included three of Cal's consecutive baskets in the second half that helped it trim down the lead.

Shorthanded and coming off two games that combined for six overtimes seemed to take its toll on Cal late as three players accounted for 67 of the 73 points in the game.

Sissoko contributed 11 points and 8 rebounds while Campbell had 10 rebounds to go with his 19 points in the final game of the season for the Bears.

Stojakovic's sophomore season ended with his third game with at least 30 points as he took over with the Bears missing some of their key pieces.

The Bears will now head into the offseason with plenty of questions that will need to be answered. Cal improved its win total by one in the second season under Mark Madsen but will likely have to regroup the roster once again.

Should Cal return its key pieces, most of whom have remaining eligibility, the Bears could start to turn the corner in Madsen's third season.