By Morris Phillips

In day two of the Maui Invitational, the Cal Bears were undoubtedly headed down one of two distinctly opposite paths. Either as the pressuring force that put Wichita State on their heels for 25 minutes on Monday, or the group that wilted in the final 15 minutes when the Shockers turned to a trapping defense.

Seven minutes into their consolation bracket matchup with VCU, that path was clear. The Bears had already coughed up seven turnovers, scored just six points, and trailed by 17. The youthful Bears were on the ropes, unable to cope with the same pressure that they hoped to unleash themselves.

“We don’t have the kind of experience or depth where we can start off slow and then make a run late,” coach Wyking Jones said of Cal’s early hole that lead to an 83-69 loss.  “And so, that kind of was our demise today.”

Both teams came to Maui with youthful rosters and a whole lot to prove. But only VCU made a statement, forcing 18 Cal turnovers that lead to 29 fast break points.

“Right off the bat, I thought our guys were really locked into the game plan on the defensive end,” VCU coach Mike Rhoades said Tuesday of his Rams’ fast start that resulted in their 26-point halftime lead. “And our biggest thing is we’re just, we’re still young, we’re still inexperienced. The more we play, the better we’re going to get.”

De’Riante Jenkins paced VCU with 27 points, 11 rebounds and three other Rams contributed nine points each. The Rams shot 50 percent from the field and made 12 three-pointers.

Cal received 21 points from Don Coleman, and 11 points, 10 rebounds from Marcus Lee. The Bears shot 46 percent in the second half to cut VCU’s big lead, but only 43 percent for the game, and they missed 11 of their 15 three-point attempts.

Cal will face Chaminade in Wednesday’s seventh-place game.