Cal hopes to take more from a high-scoring road loss than three previous lopsided home wins when the Golden Bears return to their home floor in Berkeley, Calif., to oppose Presbyterian in a nonconference basketball game Tuesday night.After thumping Cal State Bakersfield, Wright State and Cal State Fullerton by a total of 65 points, the Golden Bears (3-1) saw a late rally come up short in a 99-96 loss at Kansas State on Thursday.Dai Dai Ames poured in 25 points against his former team, but the most encouraging aspect of Cal’s loss was the play of Chris Bell. The Syracuse transfer shot 7-for-9 on 3-point attempts en route to 27 points, 12 more than he had in any previous game for the Golden Bears.Cal, which ranked just 311th in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage at 31.5% last season, connected on 15 of 28 (53.6%) from deep at Kansas State.While coach Mark Madsen was pleased with his team’s shooting, he was disappointed in its start. The Golden Bears gave up 55 first-half points and trailed by 21 at the break against the Wildcats after having taken an average of a 10.7-point lead into halftime in their first three games.”I was proud of our guys. We won the second half almost by 20 (points),” he said after the Kansas State game. “But we can’t have a bad start like that on the road against a top team. We’ll get better from this.”Presbyterian (3-3) will be playing its fourth straight road game, its second on a six-day, three-game trip to California.
