CALIFORNIA (Dec. 13) – Behind a career-high 35 points (21 second half) from sophomore
KJ McClurg, the No. 13 Vulcans rallied from a 19-point deficit with eight minutes left to play to earn a 94-90 victory against Wheeling on Wednesday night in non-conference play at the Convocation Center.
RECORDS/SERIES
• The California (PA) men's basketball team improves to 8-0 overall with four of the last five wins by four points or less.
• The Cardinals falls to 4-6 this season after being picked ninth in the preseason MEC poll.
• The Vulcans have posted wins over the Cardinals in each of the last two seasons after the programs last faced in the 2009-10 campaign.
STATS
• McClurg scored 35 points on 12-of-17 shooting and 9-of-11 from the free-throw line.
• He also added four rebounds while playing all 40 minutes on Wednesday.
• McClurg leads the PSAC in scoring this year with 22.8 points per game behind a pair of 30-point games.
• Redshirt senior
Zyan Collins posted 25 points on 10-of-14 from the floor and tallied four assists and four steals.
• Senior
Jermaine Hall, Jr. finished with 14 points, four assists and three steals in the victory.
• Freshman
Antoine Arnett collected 11 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.
GAME ACTION
• The Cardinals posted an 18-5 run early in the first half to build a 22-8 lead at the 13:42-mark.
• Wheeling later extended the lead to as many as 23 points, 52-29, with 4:30 left before halftime behind a 17-6 rally over five minutes.
• The Cardinals took a 57-42 lead into the break after converting 10-of-15 (66.7 percent) from three-point territory.
• Wheeling led by as many as 19 points, 77-58, in the second half with 8:37 left to play.
• The Vulcans scored eight-unanswered points to work the deficit to single digits, 79-70, at the 5:39-mark of the second half.
• Cal later mounted a 15-2 run behind eight points by McClurg to claim the lead at 87-85 with 2:35 remaining.
• The Vulcans took a two-possession lead, 91-87, with 1:09 left to play on a jumper by Collins.
• The Cardinals countered with a three-pointer 10 seconds later before Collins made a game-sealing jumper with 30 seconds remaining.
• Cal finished the game shooting 57.8 percent (37-of-64) from the floor, its second-best mark of the year, despite going just 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) from long range.
• The Cardinals finished with a 36-22 rebounding advantage.
• The Vulcans committed just six turnovers yet forced 19 turnovers, including 15 in the second half.
• Wheeling junior Sean Ealy scored a career-high 30 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including six-of-eight from long range.
• Classmate Marcus Johnson added 28 points (19 first half) on 11-of-15 from the floor with four-of-five from beyond the arc.
NEXT
• Cal returns to PSAC Crossover play on Monday, Dec. 18, when it hosts Shippensburg at the Convocation Center, starting at 7:30 p.m.
