BERKELEY – There was a consensus among the Cal men's basketball team Thursday night.

It's about time.

The Bears snapped their 16-game losing streak in notable fashion, knocking off No. 25 and Pac-12 leading Washington 76-73 at Haas Pavilion.

"We knew we had it in us. We just had to find it," said Cal center Connor Vanover, who scored a career-high 18 points and added seven rebounds. "It took awhile, but now I think moving forward we will have a clear head. If we can beat Washington, why not anyone else?"

Darius McNeil had a game-high 19 points for the Bears (6-22, 1-15 Pac-12) while Justice Sueing had a terrific floor game with 14 points, eight rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks. The Bears had a season high 22 assists and shot 55.6 percent from the floor.

"We've been on a rough stretch for just about all of 2019," Sueing said. "The most important thing is the guys decided to stay together and not let that interfere with how hard we play. We beat a really good Washington team and now we are looking forward to carrying some momentum into the Pac-12 Tournament."

The Bears led 67-60 after Sueing's 3-pointer with 9:06 remaining but the Huskies came back to tie it at 71-71 at the 4:36 mark of the second half. After the game was tied again at 73-73 with 2:18 left, Cal didn't allow Washington to score again.

Sueing had a key steal and block in the final two minutes while point guard Paris Austin make two free throws with 23.8 seconds to go to push Cal's advantage to the final margin. The Huskies misfired on three 3-poiners during the final 12 seconds.

"I'm just so happy for the guys because they've gone through this losing streak and they all stayed positive," Cal head coach Wyking Jones said. "The all continued to work and fight and scratch and claw. We were close so many times. For us to get the win tonight over a really, really good team means a lot."

The Bears registered their first Pac-12 victory since Feb. 3 of last year.

Cal will close out its home schedule Saturday against Washington State at 4 p.m. The game will air on the Pac-12 Networks.

"There's some relief," Sueing said. "We've been working really hard and haven't given up. We kept pushing and didn't let adversity stop us."