ACC men’s basketball: Cal gets Big Game victory, rare sweep of Stanford in its 72-66 win
BERKELEY — Cal bolstered its NCAA tournament resume and completed a regular-season sweep of rival Stanford for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign with a 72-66 victory in front of 9,020 fans at Haas Pavilion on Saturday afternoon.
The Bears (19-8, 7-7 ACC) never trailed on the way to moving within one victory of its first 20-win season since 2017.
Senior Chris Bell, a native of the East Bay community of Concord, scored 20 points, including three free throws when he was fouled shooting a 3-pointer with 1:14 to play, boosting the Bears’ lead to 71-59.
The Cardinal (16-11, 5-9) scored the next seven points by flustering Cal with fullcourt pressure, but got no closer than five points.
John Camden had 18 points and eight rebounds for the Bears and Dai Dai Ames contributed 17 points and seven rebounds.
Free throws were a difference-maker, with the Bears converting 19 of 23 on the afternoon and the Cardinal just 18 of 29.
Stanford lost for the seventh time in nine games and must finish strong to earn one of 15 spots available in the ACC tournament.
Ebuka Okorie, who averaged 29.3 points over his past three games and already has broken Stanford’s freshman scoring record, had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Aidan Cammann led the Cardinal with 19 points but also missed eight free throws.
The Bears maintained a double-digit lead through the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Stanford crept within 53-46 when Benny Gealer hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
The teams then traded a series of 3s, Ames answering for Cal, Okorie countering from deep for Stanford, then Camden connecting for the Bears, for a 59-49 Cal lead with 9:10 remaining.
The uncanny accuracy didn’t last. Cal missed its next seven shots — five of them 3’s — and led just 59-53 with 5:30 left in regulation.
The Bears, in fact, had made just 5 of 26 shots in the half before Bell sank a 3-pointer with 4:57 left. Two free throws by Justin Pippen pushed the Cal lead back to 64-53 with 4:09 showing.
A fastbreak layup by Bell off a feed from Pippen stretched the margin to 66-53 and the lead was 68-54 after Milos Ilic converted a post move with 3:08 to play.
Ames scored 13 points, Bell had 10 and Camden nine as Cal forged a 39-25 halftime lead. The Bears were up just 18-16 with 7 1/2 minutes left before assembling a 21-9 closing run to push their advantage to 14 points.
Stanford got nine points and eight rebounds from Okorie in the opening half, but he got little help. His teammates combined for 16 points on 6 for 20 from the field, and the Cardinal turned the ball over nine times in the half.
Notable
- Cal played its seventh consecutive game without injured starting center Lee Dort (7.7 points, 8.3 rebounds).
- Both teams are at home this week, with the Bears taking on SMU and Stanford hosting Pitt, both on Wednesday night.