Pitt Rallies to Beat Cal in ACC Men's Basketball

Bears let a 16-point lead in the first half slip away against Pitt, which was without its leading scorer. Cal freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson scores 24 points

Cal's Jeremiah Wilkinson drives on Pitt's Jaland Lowe / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Pittsburgh played without its leading scorer, but the Panthers were still able to overcome Cal's 16-point first-half lead to beat the Bears 86-74 Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

Cal (7-6, 0-2 ACC) has lost five of its last six games since its 6-1 start, and it wasted a strong first-half performance in its first road ACC game. Cal led 39-23 with 4:20 left in the first half, but held just a four-point advantage at halftime as the Panthers turned the game around in the final four minutes before intermission. Pitt (11-3, 2-0 ACC) then took control by outscoring the Bears 19-6 to start the second half.

This follows a pattern by Cal, which has played one good half and one mediocre half in a number of games this season. This time it was the first half -- more specifically the first 16 minutes -- in which Cal played good basketball before being less efficient in the second half.

"The main thing is, we have to be more consistent," Cal coach Mark Madsen said. "What I told the guys in the locker room is, I said, 'Guys we have to play like we did in the first 15 or 17 minutes, we have to do that the whole game.'

"We will build consistency, because it was not there tonight."

Pitt shot 50% from the field, including 56% in the second half. Cal committed just six turnovers for the game, but Pitt committed only eight turnovers. Cal was 1-for-7 on three-pointers in the second half, while Pitt was 5-of-9 from long range after halftime.

Cal freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson had a big game off the bench with 24 points, but starting point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. went scoreless for the first time this season, missing all six of his field-goal attempts. He has scored just two points in the past two games combined, even though he entered the game as the Bears' second-leading scorer. Andrej Stojakovic added 19 points for the Bears, who face Clemson on the road on Saturday.

Wilkinson is now Cal's second-leading scorer at 12.7 points a game, even though he has yet to start a game. Wednesday was the third time this year he has scored more than 22 points in a game, topped by the 25 points he scored against Mercyhurst. He has averaged 17.1 points over the past nine games.

"Jeremiah has been someone who has been locked in since he got here on campus," Madsen said of Wilkinson. "Jeremiah wants to be great. He works extremely hard. He is just prolific threat whenever he steps on the court."

The driving force for Pitt was guard Jaland Lowe, who collected 27 points and eight assists. Cameron Corhen added 19 points for the Panthers. Pitt is now 8-0 at home and has won 14 consecutive games on its home court.

Forty-four fouls were called in the game, not including four techical fouls called in the first half.,

Both teams were without a starter because of injury, but Pitt’s player absence was more significant.

Cal forward Joshua Ola-Joseph, who averages 8.2 points, was sidelined for Wednesday’s game, and Pitt’s top scorer, Ishmael Leggett, a guard who averages 17.5 points and 6.1 rebounds, was not available because of a lower-body injury. .

The Bears were 13.5-point underdogs in this game but that was based on Pitt having Leggett available. Pitt entered the day No. 10 in the NET rankings, which is the primary sorting tool for evaluating teams for the NCAA tournament.

Cal dominated most of the first half and led by 16 points at 39-23 when Campbell hit a three-pointer with 4:20 left before halftime.  But Pitt dominated the final four minutes of the half, which ended with Cal leading by just four points, at 42-38. A four-point play with 23.8 seconds left helped Pitt close the gap. On that possession, Zack Austin hit a three-pointer and Papa Amadour Kante added a free throw following a foul called as players jockeyed for rebounding position.

"There was a huge momentuim shift right at the end of the first half," Madsen said. "We played a pretty good half for the first 15, 16 minutes, then we got scrambled, we started going out of character, and we did not make the plays we needed to make.

Stojakovic had 12 points in the first half, and Wilkinson added 11.  Rytis Petraitis scored nine points in the first 3:31 of the game, but did not score again before halftime.

Cal committed just three turnovers in the first half, when Cal had nine offensive rebounds, helping the Bears outscore the Panthers 15-3 in second-chance points. However, Cal had just two second-chance points in the second half.

Trailing by four at halftime, Pitt controled play at the outset of the second half, making its first eight shots from the field. The Panthers took the lead for good with 17:35 left in the second half, and led by just five points with 9:48 to go as Wilkinson helped keep the Bears close. But the Panthers gradually increased their lead from that point.

NOTES: Cal forward BJ Omot missed his ninth straight game because of an injury, and the Bears are hoping he returns to action sometime this season.

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