CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two of the ACC’s newcomers showed the rest of the league how it’s done.
Rivals Cal and Stanford staged an East Coast rendition of the Big Game and turned in the most entertaining, well-played contest at this year’s ACC tournament to date.
Maxime Raynaud scored 23 points and Jaylen Blakes added 21 as the Cardinal outlasted the Bears 78-73 in the second round Wednesday at the Spectrum Center.
Stanford faces second-seeded Louisville in the quarterfinals Thursday with a chance to improve their outside shot at an NCAA tournament at-large bid.
Andrej Stojakovic led Cal with 37 points.
Battle-weary from playing six combined overtimes in their previous two games, and playing without two starters, Cal figured to be running on fumes against rival Stanford on Wednesday night.
Instead, the Bears pushed their rival to the limits in a back-and-forth contest that was tied with 1:51 to play.
Cal played without two thirds of its starting backcourt, freshman star Jeremiah Wilkinson (concussion) and fellow guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. (undisclosed injury), who both played Tuesday against Virginia Tech.
While other, longer-tenured ACC teams in earlier games struggled to hit shots, Stanford and Cal tickled the twine at impressive rates Wednesday, the Bears connecting on 53% of their shots and the Cardinal hit 51%.
The teams were tied 68-68 with 1:51 to play, when Benny Gealer drained a 3-pointer to give the Cardinal a lead it would not relinquish, securing its third win over Cal this season.
The longtime rivals hooked up for the first time in the conference tournament, a game played at the Spectrum Center, home of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, in the heart of ACC country, just two hours from fabled Tobacco Road, home to league stalwarts Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State.
Wednesday’s game tipped about two hours after the Tar Heels’ blowout of Notre Dame and there were still tinges of Carolina blue scattered throughout the stands.
Stojakovic, who put up 25 and 16 points in a pair of regular-season losses to the Cardinal, scored Cal’s first 11 points Wednesday night.
Cal used a 9-0 run – the last five points coming from Stojakovic – to build a 22-14 lead with 10:34 to go before the break.
But Stanford ended the half on a 9-0 surge of its own and went to the locker room ahead 38-32.
Despite the minutes it had logged in its last two outings, Cal didn’t show any signs of wearing down. A Stojakavic 3 with 13:18 left pulled it within a point, and a pair of his free throws less than a minute later put the Bears back on top, 55-54.
Stanford regained the edge, 65-64 with 5:52 to play, setting the stage for the tight finish as Cal and Stanford made their first ACC tournament meeting a memorable one.
<