
Down 79-76 with 4.6 seconds left in the game Miami was left with one more chance to force overtime. Inbounding on the sideline was freshman guard Jalil Bethea who heaved a cross-court pass to fellow freshman Austin Swartz. A defender in his face, Swartz hit a touch pass to Matthew Cleveland who would bury a contested three-point shot on the right wing with one second remaining on the game clock.
With five additional minutes on the clock, Miami looked to battle hard to secure its first ACC win of the season and in almost a calendar year. After playing neck-and-neck basketball for the first two minutes of the frame, Cal began to pull away going on a 7-0 run in less than 90 seconds. Down 88-81, with under two minutes to play, Miami’s A.J. Staton-Mccray and Cleveland tried to wheel his team to victory but ended up falling short.Â
In the second and final game of Miami’s (4-16, 0-9 ACC) first-ever west coast ACC road trip, they looked to rebound against California (11-9, 4-5 ACC) after getting blown out by Stanford a few days ago. Miami would go on to lose their ninth straight game in heartbreaking fashion, 98-94.
In Miami’s most complete showing in some time, many players were clicking on all cylinders. Cleveland had himself a night, scoring 30 points going 3-5 from long range and 9-9 from the charity strike. This would be the second time in three games that Cleveland would score 30+ points.
Additionally, the struggling Brandon Johnson and Paul Djobet had good numbers. Johnson would go on to score 16 points, shooting 4-7 from beyond the arc. Johnson has been an immensely bad three-point shooter during ACC play, it was much needed for him to get going from deep. Djobet would score 12 points, shooting 40% from the field.
In the first half, Cal would take the early 10-6 lead at the 15:52 mark. The Golden Bears would continue to keep their advantage as the half progressed. Miami would keep their deficit at 10 and under but at the half, they were down 47-39.
In striking distance after the halftime break, Jalil Bethea would open up the scoring on a fastbreak layup to move the score within six. Kiree Huie who got his first start as a Hurricane would go into the scoring column with a made layup. Cal’s Jeremiah Wilkson would continue to torch his way to the basket, keeping his team in front. Wilkson would end up with 30 points shooting 10-22 from the field but a mere 1-10 from deep.
Miami showing some fight, something fans have not seen in the second half this season, would tie the game 55-55 on a successful free throw by none other than Cleveland with just over 10 minutes left.
From here on out it was competitive basketball, both teams trading buckets and leads as the clock kept winding down. DJ Campbell of Cal would pick his team up, scoring 22 points and shooting 50% from the field. Cleveland would go on to send Miami to overtime but they did ultimately lose.
Despite the loss, Miami put up high shooting percentages. They would finish the game shooting 46% from the field and 52% from deep. They would also shoot 18-21 from the free-throw line.
Miami will hop on a long flight back to Coral Gables to play Virginia at the Watsco Center. The game will be on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and be televised on ESPN2/U.