John Camden scored a game-high 22 points in his Cal debut, Lee Dort missed the first double-double of his college career by one rebound and the Golden Bears routed Cal State Bakersfield 87-60 in both teams’ season opener on Monday in Berkeley, Calif.
Starting four newly arrived transfers, Cal also got double-figure scoring from Dai Dai Ames with 18 points and Justin Pippen with 15 en route to the runaway win. Dort wound up with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Dailin Smith and Ronald Jessamy had 16 points apiece for the Roadrunners, who were playing for the first time under new coach Mike Scott.
Camden, a transfer from Delaware, where he averaged 16.8 points per game last season, got Cal’s season off to a thrilling start by turning an Ames assist into a 3-point hoop just 13 seconds into the duel of teams that had identical 14-19 records last season.
With lone starting holdover Dort contributing two hoops, the Golden Bears proceeded to run off the game’s first 10 points and never trailed.
A layup by Smith got Bakersfield as close as 18-16 just past the midpoint of the first half, but Camden responded with a four-point play on a 3-point hoop and Cal went on to lead 37-26 at the break.
With Dort igniting things with a dunk and Camden adding a dunk of his own and another 3-pointer, Cal ran off to a 48-28 advantage in the third minute of the second period and never looked back.
Camden finished with three 3-pointers in a game that featured a total just eight. Cal went 5-for-23 (21.7%) from beyond the arc, while Cal State Bakersfield made just 3 of 9.
Dort shot 5-for-7, Camden 7-for-11 and Ames 9-for-15 for the Golden Bears, who outshot the visitors 54.2% to 35.8%.
Pippen also found time for a game-high seven assists.
Jessamy was Bakersfield’s leading rebounder with seven, while backups Mike Price and Jaden Alexander shared assist honors with three each.
