BERKELEY -- The California men's basketball team secured its ninth straight win and stayed perfect at Haas Pavilion with a 74-56 win over visiting Columbia. The Bears never trailed and overcame a sluggish start to lock up its 12th win of the year as Cal continues its best start to a season since 1959-60. Cal is now 12-1 overall, and Columbia is 9-3.
It was slow going on both ends of the floor offensively for both teams in the first half. Cal led things 28-16 at halftime -- a low for the Bears and for any opponent this season in the opening half -- but Columbia led on the boards 25-19. Cal was shooting 25 percent overall, and the Lions were at 25.9 percent through the first 20 minutes of play, while
Dai Dai Ames was the only player in double figures with 12 at the break. The pace picked back up in the second half, with Cal shooting 64 percent in the half to end the game at 42.1 percent overall. Columbia also heated up, and finished out at 41.8 percent. The teams were even on the rebounding front 34-34.
Sparked by a steal and dunk from
Dai Dai Ames, Cal unleashed a 13-0 rally to turn a tied game into a 16-4 advantage nine minutes into the action. Columbia broke up almost six minutes of scoring silence with a dunk at 10:05, but Ames did it better with a booming slam at 6:19 and finished the three-point play to net a 22-9 Cal lead later. The Lions got back-to-back buckets to go for the first time in the game to bring the margin to 22-13 with 3:30 left in the first half. A dry spell hit the Bears from the floor, but they were effective from the stripe, going 6-for-6 at the free-throw line to wrap the half, and it was 28-16 Cal at the break.
Columbia carved the deficit down to single digits after landing its second 3-pointer of the day two minutes into the second half. The Bears wrapped a Dort dunk and a
John Camden 3-pointer around a Lion score to get back to a double-digit lead, up 38-26 at 15:40. Cal cashed in on a hot streak later, rattling off 10 straight points, including threes from Camden and
Justin Pippen to craft a 56-35 Cal lead with 9:25 on the clock. The Lions got a couple threes to fall and were getting to the line to maneuver the margin to 65-52 with 2:50 remaining. Ames landed a clutch 3-pointer with 1:40 to go to take Cal to a 68-52 lead, and the Bears stayed the course to tack up a final 74-56 victory.
NEXT: Cal takes a holiday break before turning to kick off ACC competition at Haas Pavilion. The Bears open conference play with a 6 p.m. meeting against nationally ranked Louisville on December 30, then take on Notre Dame at 8 p.m. on January 2.
NOTABLE:
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Dai Dai Ames (21 points) and
John Camden (15) both scored in double figures for the 11th time this season.
- Ames has now recorded six 20-point games this season.
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Lee Dort had a career-high four blocks and career-high 14 rebounds.Â
- With 12 points,
Chris Bell scored in double digits for the 10th time this season.
- Now with nine straight wins, Cal has matched its longest win streak since recording nine consecutive in 2008-09
- Cal's 12-1 overall record continues its best start since the 1959-60 season, when the Bears went 28-1 before falling in the 1960 national championship game.
- Cal is now 12-0 when holding teams to 72 or fewer points.
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