Feast Week looked like it could be a challenging one for Cal as the Bears entered the three-game Cal Classic without three of their top contributors, including two players who started each of the first four games.
Instead, Mark Madsen's team has put together a four-game winning streak and found potential star in freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson. The reserve guard capped his stellar week with his best showing yet Wednesday night in a dominant 81-55 win over Mercyhurst.
Wilkinson again came off the bench and contributed 25 points in the victory in an efficient performance the featured just three missed baskets on a 9-for-12 night from the freshman. He hit six 3-pointers in the game and dished out a game-high 4 assists.
"When Jeremiah first got here we realized right away that he's a phenomenal shooter," Madsen said in his postgame radio interview with play-by-play announcer Justin Allegri. "Early on in the summer ... he's passing up a bunch of 3s. I said, 'Jeremiah, if you pass up 3s that's a reason for us not to play you as much.' Because the team is so competitive.
"He's really embraced shooting the open 3, but then he does so much more beyond that. He gets to the rim, he makes his teammates better, he rebounds, he defends, he gets steals."
Wilkinson averaged 21.3 points over three games this week as he provided a needed spark off the bench with Cal shorthanded. The Bears (6-1) remain without starters Jovan Blacksher Jr. and DJ Campbell plus sometimes starter BJ Omot. Blacksher and Campbell, who both started each of the first four games this season, went through pregame workouts with the rest of the tam and remain day to day for now.
In their absence, Madsen has been able to discover the true key to this year's team, it's depth. He has continued to preach strength in numbers early this season, and that was once again a clear positive in Wednesday night's game at Haas Pavilion.
The Bears ended the lopsided win with 43 points from the bench, including 12 from second-year forwards Spencer Mahoney and Devin Curtis who both had played sparingly earlier in the season.
Nine different players scored for Cal in the win over the Lakers and three of them had at least 13 points.
Mercyhurst (4-4) is beginning its transition to Division I this year, but the Lakers gave Cal all it could handle in the early part of the game Wednesday. The Bears missed four of their first five shots to open the game leading to Mercyhurst taking an early 6-2 lead through the first 4:40 of the game.
Eventually, Madsen turned to his bench and the first 3-pointer of the night from Wilkinson came with 14:20 to go in the first half and turned the tide in favor of the Bears.
Cal never looked back from that point on as it put together a 14-2 during that stretch of the first half giving the Bears full control that they would eventually build on through the rest of the half.
The Bears went into the locker room at halftime up 18 points thanks to a bucket from starting point guard Christian Tucker before building on that lead in the second half.
The Lakers were only able to trim to lead down to as close as 14 points across the final 20 minutes as the Bears received contributions from throughout the lineup.
Leading scorer Andrej Stojakovic kept his streak of games with at least 15 points alive as he totaled exactly that number in Wednesday's matchup on a 5-for-12 night from the field for the Bears. He also had 3 rebounds and 2 assists in the game.
Forward Joshua Ola-Joseph was the other Cal player in double figures Wednesday night as he had 13 points to continue his recent impressive stretch. The Minnesota transfer grabbed 6 rebounds and had 1 assist in 22 minutes.
Center Mady Sissoko led the team with 9 rebounds to go along with 4 points and an assist against the Lakers.
Cal tied a season high with 11 made 3-pointers in the win and put together its best shooting performance of the year by making 55% of its shot attempts Wednesday night. More importantly, the Bears shared the ball better than they have all year with a season-high 14 assists as a team against the Lakers.
Madsen's team will get some time away from the floor as it will not return to action until next Tuesday when the Bears travel to Missouri for the SEC/ACC Challenge.
