CALIFORNIA (March 1) – With a first-round bye in the league tournament at stake, the Vulcans closed the regular season with an 88-64 win over Edinboro on Senior Day at the Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West play.
NOTES
• California (17-11, 12-8) finishes the regular season with a 10-3 mark at home.
• The Vulcans ranked second in the divisional standings for a consecutive year.
• Cal will host the winner of Edinboro-Seton Hill in the quarterfinals of the PSAC Tournament on Wednesday, March 5.
• Junior
Donald Whitehead, Jr. scored a game-high 20 points and added five rebounds and six assists in the victory.
• Redshirt junior
Cam Polak tallied 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, four rebounds and five steals on Saturday.
• He became the fifth different player over the last four years to score at least 500 points (518) in a season – 26 total occurrences in program history.
• Freshman
Jordyn Buchanan posted 12 points, six rebounds and four assists while playing 33 minutes.
• Classmate
Keondre DeShields registered his second double-double of the year with 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds (four offensive) in 25 minutes off the bench.
• Sophomore
Dalman Alexander totaled eight points and eight rebounds, while senior
Kadyn Hannah finished with 11 points and four rebounds.
• Cal scored eight of the opening 10 points in the game before Edinboro standout Cenker Evran (15.5 points and 13.1 rebounds per game) suffered an injury at the 17:03-mark.
• The Fighting Scots responded with a 9-2 run to tie the score at 13-13 with 11:50 left to play.
• Cal later mounted a 13-3 rally to seize a 35-21 lead before taking a 39-31 advantage at the break.
• The Vulcans posted a 12-3 run early in the second half to increase the lead to 18 points, 55-37, with 15:19 remaining.
• Cal extended the lead to 20 points midway through the half and eventually led by as many as 28 points, 88-60, with 1:03 left to play.
• The Vulcans shot over 55 percent in the second half and finished the game with a 49.3 clip 35-of-71).
• Cal held a plus-12 rebounding advantage (44-32) behind 13 offensive rebounds that led to 21 second-chance points.
• The Vulcans totaled 40 points in the paint and committed just seven turnovers in the victory.
NEXT
• The Vulcans will host a game in the PSAC Tournament for the fifth-straight season.
• Cal received a first-round bye in the tournament after placing second in the divisional standings.
