PHILADELPHIA (Nov. 23) – The California (PA) men's basketball team shot over 55 percent from the floor and featured a pair of 20-point scorers on Wednesday afternoon while earning 90-64 win at Chestnut Hill (Pa.) in non-conference play.
With the victory, the Vulcans improve to 3-2 overall and complete a two-game road trip that spanned nearly 1,200 miles. Cal was playing Chestnut Hill for the first time in over a decade, as the teams last met during the 2011-12 season. Meanwhile, the Griffins fall to 2-4 this year after playing four-straight opponents from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC).
Redshirt junior
Jermaine Hall, Jr. (Baltimore, Md./Severn School) and sophomore transfer
Cam Polak (West Homestead, Pa./Steel Valley) both tied their career highs with 23 points on Wednesday. Hall shot 8-of-13 from the floor and added nine rebounds, two assists and one block in the win. Polak went 9-of-14 from the field with a career-high five three-pointers, plus collected four rebounds. A transfer from West Chester, he has scored at least 20 points three times in the last four games and leads the league with 19 three-pointers made this season.
Sophomore
DJ Slaughter (Manassas, Va./Saint John Paul the Great Catholic) scored a career-high 15 points behind seven-of-seven from the free-throw line and added four rebounds, five assists and three steals. Classmate
Keith Palek III (Woodbine, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) registered his second double-double of the year, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds (three offensive), plus four assists and two steals.
The Vulcans opened the game on a 7-0 run before the Griffins later mounted a 7-3 rally to take a 14-13 lead with 12:54 left in the first half. Cal countered with an 18-5 run, including 10 points by Hall, to take a 31-19 lead on a layup by Slaughter at the 7:05-mark. Chestnut Hill later worked the deficit down to 40-33 with 1:59 left in the first half before Cal took a double-digit lead, 45-35, into the break.
Chestnut Hill scored five-straight points early in the second half to cut the deficit to 51-44 before Cal regained the momentum. The Vulcans out-scored the Griffins by a 29-10 margin over next 10-plus minutes to take an 80-54 lead with 6:53 left to play. During the run, Polak and Slaughter accounted for 14 points and Chestnut Hill converted just 1-of-11 from beyond the arc. Cal later posted a 10-5 run to close out the game and earn a 90-64 victory on the road.
The Vulcans finished the game shooting 55.4 percent (31-of-56) from the floor and went 19-of-23 (82.6 percent) from the free-throw line. In comparison, the Griffins posted a .377 field-goal percentage (23-of-61) behind 8-of-37 (21.6 percent) from long range. Cal held a sizeable 40-28 rebounding advantage and scored 42 points in the paint. The Vulcans also committed a season-low 11 turnovers in the victory.
Chestnut Hill sophomore MJ Iraldi led the team with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting and added three rebounds and three assists. Junior Nigel Haughton finished with 13 points, two rebounds and three assists in the losing effort.
Cal is idle for over a week before returning to action with back-to-back road PSAC Crossover contests, starting on Dec. 2 at Shippensburg with tip set for 7:30 p.m.
