Devin Askew broke a late tie with a reverse layup and added one of his team’s five clinching free throws in the final seconds as Cal presented new coach Mark Madsen with a win in his school coaching debut Monday night, 71-66 over St. Thomas of Minnesota in a nonconference men’s basketball opener in Berkeley, Calif.
The contest opened the season for both squads.
Jalen Celestine had a career-high 21 points and transfer Fardaws Aimaq 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Golden Bears, who were the NCAA’s losingest team last season with a 3-29 record.
Brooks Allen bombed in three 3-pointers to account for more than half his team-high 17 points for the Tommies, a 19-win team a year ago.
After St. Thomas’ Parker Bjorklund produced the seventh tie of the second half at 64-all with a layup with 2:27 to play, neither team scored until Askew split the defense from right to left for a nifty layup with 41 seconds left, giving Cal a lead it never relinquished.
Allen then misfired on a potential go-ahead 3-pointer for the Tommies, allowing the Golden Bears to use two free throws by Jalen Cone with 27 seconds left, one by Askew with 13 seconds to go and two from Aimaq with five seconds left remaining to secure the win.
Askew had been just 1-for-6 from the field before his critical hoop.
Cone chipped in with 10 points and Askew finished with nine for Cal, which outscored the visitors 16-2 at the free-throw line in a tightly contested matchup in which neither team led by more than five points.
Askew (5-for-6), Celestine (4-for-6) and Aimaq (4-for-6) accounted for 13 of Cal’s 16 points from the line.
Drake Dobbs had 14 points and Bjorklund 11 for the Tommies, who stayed in the game by shooting 12-for-28 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc. St. Thomas outscored Cal 36-21 on 3-pointers.
–Field Level Media