Syracuse Rises Above Cal in Double OT

In their second season coming from the Pacific Coast to play within their current conference named after the Atlantic Coast, the California Golden Bears entered the Dome on a snow-covered night in Central New York to face the Syracuse Orange in a men's basketball bout.

There were six lead changes and four ties by the 8:29 mark of the first half, where it stood at 21-apiece after a jumper by junior guard Dai Dai Ames of the Golden Bears.

Chris Bell, who left Syracuse for Cal via the transfer portal following the 2024-25 season, would make his first points in the Dome that were not for the Orange when he cashed in from long range at the 11:34 mark to tie the game for the Golden Bears, at 17-apiece.

Cal would go on a 12-6 run after the 21-21 tie, moving ahead 33-27 but Syracuse would battle back and both teams were knotted up at 35 at the half.

Orange redshirt-senior guard Nate Kingz led all players on both teams with 11 points after the opening half, followed on his team by senior guard J.J. Starling, who had seven.

Graduate forward John Camden led the Golden Bears at the break with eight points, followed by sophomore guard Justin Pippen, son of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Champion and Hall-of-Famer Scottie Pippen, who had seven points. The former Orange forward Bell had five points in the first half.

Syracuse's first points of the second half came just over two minutes in on a layup by Starling that brought the score to 39-37 Cal.

The majority of the first six minutes and change in the second half saw both teams within one possession of each other.

After a layup by Starling that brought the score to 52-47 Orange, both teams went back into one-possession territory, remaining close down the stretch with nine lead changes happening between the 10-minute and 6:16 marks.

A layup by Ames at the 2:38 mark gave Cal a 74-71 lead.

Syracuse replied with layups by Starling and Kingz to go ahead 75-74.

Golden Bears' graduate center Milos Ilic made two free throws to give the Golden Bears a 76-75 lead, which the Orange answered to with a three by Kingz to roll the lead back to the Orange, 78-76.

Another layup by Ames tied the game at 78-all with 41 seconds remaining.

A short-range jumper from the left of the basket would fall outside the rim and the two squads headed into overtime.

Sophomore forward Donnie Freeman got Syracuse on the board first in the extra period, going 1-for-2 from the line to make it 79-78 Orange.

Ames responded with a layup to give the lead back to the Golden Bears, at 80-79.

With 2:57 to play, Cal held an 82-81 lead which happened as a result of senior forward William Kyle, III, rebounding the ball after Freeman missed two free throws followed by two free throws by Ames.

Immediately after Ames' freebies, Freeman's pullup landed inside the net with 2:30 to go, placing the lead back in the hands of the Orange, at 83-82.

The Dome encountered a second issue with the video boards and graphics as well as the audio to follow up what happened in the second half.

Coming out of a break in the action, the boards were off, no score was visible, but the action continued and Bell connected from the left corner to bring the lead back to the Golden Bears, 85-83.

Kingz would go 1-for-2 from the charity stripe, followed by a layup by Ames for the Golden Bears, and then Kingz would secure an old-fashioned three-point play on a lay-in and free throw to bring about an 87-87 tie.

Starling would record a layup of his own on Syracuse's next possession, and the Orange had themselves an 89-87 lead with 39 seconds remaining.

With 18.7 seconds left on the game clock, junior guard Naithan George went 1-for-2 from the line to make it 90-87 Syracuse.

A right-corner jumper by Ames was ruled a two-pointer, inching Cal to a one-point deficit, 90-89.

Kingz would go 1-for-2, leaving the door open to the Golden Bears with a 91-89 Orange lead.

With 9.3 seconds to play, Cal would come down the floor and Ames would take the shot, missing his jumper, but Ilic was left free underneath, grabbed the offensive rebound, and laid the ball in the basket to beat the buzzer, forcing a second overtime at 91-all.

Syracuse would score first in the second extra period as well, and the same way, going 1-for-2 from the line, this time with the make coming from Kyle to give the Orange a 92-91 lead.

Freeman would rebound a miss by Starling and connect on a jumper to make it 94-91 Syracuse.

Ilic answered by also rebounding the ball and getting a putback off of a miss by his teammate, when freshman guard TT Carr did not connect from long range but Ilic did on his jumper.

At 94-93 Orange, Freeman would lay the ball in to extend the Orange out to a 96-93 score with 2:56 left on the game clock.

Kingz hit a left corner three to elevate Syracuse to a six-point lead, 99-93.

Camden's free throws made it a four-point deficit, 99-95, for Cal.

A 1-for-2 trip to the charity stripe for Kingz gave the Orange three figures, at 100-95, with 1:39 remaining.

Syracuse got out in transition and Freeman came through by the rim to make it 102-95 Orange.

Camden would give three more points to the Golden Bears when he connected on a long-range call, bringing the score to 102-98.

The score moved back to a six-point lead for Syracuse, at 104-98, thanks to two made free throws by George.

Starling would be called for his fourth personal foul, sending former teammate Bell to the line for three shots, which Bell made two of to get Cal within four, down 104-100 with 18 seconds left in the second overtime.

Freeman would be the next Orange shooter at the line, going 2-for-2, to raise the Syracuse lead to 106-100.

With 8.7 seconds to go, Starling went 1-for-2, giving the Orange a 107-100 lead that they would take to double-zeroes after a defensive rebound by sophomore forward Tyler Betsey.

Syracuse and Cal played the entire second overtime with the video boards still in black. However, the PA Announcer was able to provide audio once again.

The 107-100 victory gave the Orange and Golden Bears a 5-7 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), with the Orange moving ahead of the Golden Bears due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Overall, Syracuse left the Dome at 14-11 and Cal at 17-8.

Kingz led the winning Orange with 27 points, followed by Starling with 21, Freeman with 16, Kyle with 15, George with 14, and freshman forward Sadiq White, Jr., with 10.

Ames ended atop all Golden Bears with 23, followed by Camden with 21, Bell with 18, Ilic with 16, and Pippen with 11.

In total in his return to Syracuse, Bell had one rebound and two fouls to go with his 18 points on 4-for-12 shooting, with all of his makes coming from beyond the arc (4-for-8). He went 6-for-10 from the charity stripe.