Cal men never trail as Bears complete season sweep of Stanford, improve to .500 in ACC play

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Cal guard Justin Pippen attempts to drive past Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie during the first half of Saturday's game at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley. (D. Ross Cameron/Special to the Chronicle)


Cal did something against Stanford on Saturday at Haas Pavilion that it hadn't done since in more than 15 years.

And that helped the Bears in their quest to do something much more significant that they haven't done in a decade.

Cal completed a regular-season sweep of the Cardinal with a 72-66 victory. The Bears hadn't swept the season series with their rivals since the 2009-10 season.

The Bears (19-8, 7-7 ACC) did not trail in the game. They got 20 points from Chris Bell, 18 points and eight rebounds from John Camden and 17 points and seven boards from Dai Dai Ames.

Cal began the day with a NET ranking of 61. That probably would leave the Bears on the outside looking in for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2015-16 season, but they are at least in the conversation.

Stanford (16-11, 5-9) got 19 points from Aidan Cammann, who went 11-for-19 at the foul line. Freshman guard Ebuka Okorie had 17 points and a game- and personal-high 13 rebounds.

Stanford trailed by as many as 14 but after Cammann hit two foul shots with 5:30 remaining, Cal's lead had been trimmed to 59-53.

On the ensuing possession, Justin Pippen couldn't convert on a drive, but Milos Ilic got the rebound. The Bears then benefited with a trey from Bell.

That started a 9-1 Cal run that gave the Bears a 68-54 edge with three minutes left. Stanford cut its deficit to 71-66 with 29 seconds left but got no closer.

Cal 72, Stanford 66

FG	FT	Reb
STANFORD	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	PTS
Rohosy	31	5-11	0-0	2-6	1	3	10
Cammann	39	4-10	11-19	3-6	1	2	19
Agarwal	24	0-6	1-2	1-4	1	1	1
Gealer	38	4-12	3-3	0-3	3	4	15
Okorie	40	6-14	2-3	2-13	3	1	17
Dent-Smith	19	1-6	1-2	1-1	0	2	4
Giltay	5	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Thompson	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Grant	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Young	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Totals	200	20-60	18-29	9-33	10	15	66

Percentages: FG .333, FT .621.

3-Point Goals: 8-28, .286 (Gealer 4-12, Okorie 3-6, Dent-Smith 1-3, Cammann 0-3, Agarwal 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 6 (Cammann 2, Rohosy 2, Okorie, Thompson).

Turnovers: 10 (Okorie 3, Cammann 2, Grant 2, Rohosy 2, Agarwal).

Steals: 7 (Rohosy 3, Gealer 2, Agarwal, Cammann).

Technical Fouls: None.

FG	FT	Reb
CAL	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	PTS
Bell	33	5-11	7-7	2-4	1	1	20
Camden	36	6-14	3-4	2-8	2	4	18
Ilic	32	2-6	2-2	3-7	3	5	6
Ames	34	6-16	3-4	1-7	1	3	17
Pippen	35	2-10	2-2	1-7	4	1	7
Carr	8	0-1	0-0	1-2	0	1	0
Kocanas	8	1-2	2-4	0-2	0	1	4
Campbell	7	0-2	0-0	1-2	0	0	0
Yeanay	4	0-1	0-0	0-1	0	3	0
Dorsey	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Totals	200	22-63	19-23	11-40	11	19	72

Percentages: FG .349, FT .826.

3-Point Goals: 9-26, .346 (Bell 3-6, Camden 3-9, Ames 2-6, Pippen 1-2, Ilic 0-1, Kocanas 0-1, Yeanay 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 1.

Blocked Shots: 4 (Ames, Bell, Ilic, Pippen).

Turnovers: 9 (Pippen 5, Ames, Bell, Camden, Ilic).

Steals: 3 (Pippen 2, Ilic).

Technical Fouls: None.

Stanford	25	41	-	66
Cal	39	33	-	72

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The first half ended with the Bears in front 39-25.

Ames had a game-high 13 points at the break and he was involved in the three highlight plays of the opening 20 minutes.

On the first one, he drove the lane and had a chance to score but he opted to hit Bell in the left corner. Bell drained a 3 to make it 21-16 and ignite a 12-1 Cal run.

In that run, Okorie committed one of Stanford's nine first-half turnovers. The Bears then did some excellent passing from Ames to Bell to Camden, who knocked down a trey for a 26-17 Cal edge.

Then with just more than two minutes remaining in the half, Ames put Stanford guard Benny Gealer in the spin cycle and bolted for a layup and it was 36-23, Bears.

Briefly: Cal forward/center Lee Dort missed his seventh straight game with an injury he suffered in the Bears' 78-66 win at Maples Pavilion on Jan. 24. … Each team's next game is at home Wednesday. The Cardinal will take on Pitt, the Bears will face SMU. … Cal did beat Stanford twice in the 2019-20 season, but the second victory came in the Pac-12 tournament.

Steve Kroner is a freelance writer. Email: [email protected]; X: @SteveKronerSF

This article originally published at Cal men never trail as Bears complete season sweep of Stanford, improve to .500 in ACC play.

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