CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Andrej Stojakovic scored 29, Mady Sissoko and Rytis Petraitis each posted double-doubles and California rallied to beat Virginia Tech 82-73 in double overtime in Tuesday’s first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
The 15th-seeded Golden Bears (14-18) will play No. 7 seed Stanford on Wednesday in a second-round matchup between former Pac-12 rivals. Cal was coming off a 112-110 four-overtime loss at Notre Dame in Saturday’s regular-season finale.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Cal coach Mark Madsen said. “I’m proud of our team. We have a team full of winners like Rytis Petraitis right here. That’s six overtimes in the last two games, and our guys, they just never stopped fighting. Rytis makes so many winning plays on both sides of the ball. Everyone on our team made so many winning plays. I’m so proud of them.”
Sissoko scored the first two baskets in the second overtime and Stojakovic polished off an 8-0 run to give the Golden Bears the lead for good.
Stojakovic made 11 of 20 shots with three 3-pointers for the Golden Bears. Petraitis finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Sissoko scored 12 with 10 boards. DJ Campbell didn’t have a basket but made 10 of 12 free throws.
Brandon Rechsteiner scored 19 off the bench to pace the 10th-seeded Hokies (13-19). Tobi Lawal totaled 17 points and 12 rebounds. Jaydon Young missed all 11 of his 3-point attempts and scored 12.
Rechsteiner buried a 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining in regulation after Virginia Tech had missed eight straight from beyond the arc to give the Hokies their first lead of the second half at 60-59. Campbell was fouled with five seconds left and he made the second one to send it to OT.
Virginia Tech took a four-point lead in the first OT, but Petraitis followed two free throws and a layup to pull Cal even at 65 with 1:40 left. Stojakovic sent it to a second OT tied at 67 with two late free throws.
It was the first double-overtime game in the first round of the tournament since Wake Forest beat Georgia Tech 114-112 in 2007.
“We’ve had so many overtimes in the last week,” Madsen said. “Our guys are in rhythm. They might be a little tired, but our guys are in basketball rhythm. So we’re in a great place to continue to make every effort to have great momentum going forward.”
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