BERKELEY -- The California men's basketball team kept visiting Utah at bay and rang up a 79-72 win to stay perfect at Haas Pavilion and improve to 7-1 overall.
Dai Dai Ames and
Justin Pippen both went big on the offensive end to lead the Bears, scoring 25 and 23 points, respectively. Utah goes to 6-3 overall with tonight's Cal victory.Â
Cal trailed by eight in the first half before chipping away at the Utes' advantage and stealing away the lead while Utah found only a single 3-pointer and three free throws in the final 7:15 of play. The Bears, meanwhile, outscored the Utes 24-6 in that span to lead it 42-34 at halftime. Cal shot 43.8 percent from the floor with a 6-of-12 effort from 3-point range in the first half, while Utah was shooting 39.3 percent overall with 4-of-11 made from beyond the arc. Cal was also ahead on the boards 21-16 at the break.
Cal's 3-point pace cooled in the second half, but the Bears didn't break, even when the Utes got the margin down to two points with 3:20 to go.
Dai Dai Ames held strong from the free-throw line, and Cal's defense dug in to close things out as a Bear victory. Cal finished out the game shooting 45.5 percent overall with eight 3-pointers made and outrebounded Utah 36-32. The Utes shot 42.4 percent overall with eight threes landed.
Cal's Ames led all scorers with 25 points, followed closely by
Justin Pippen's career-high 23 points, while
John Camden finished with 13 points for the Bears and
Lee Dort had a career-high 11 rebounds. Utah had five players score in double figures -- Terrence Brown (15 points), Seydou Traore (14), Keanu Dawes (14), Jacob Patrick (13) and Don McHenry (10).
Utah unfurled a 10-0 rally to take a 17-10 lead six minutes into the game and later countered a Cal push with a 6-0 run to lead things 25-17 at 8:50. DeJuan Campbell landed a 3-pointer for the Bears next, only to see the Utes hit one right back. Cal clawed back the deficit and snarled the score at 28-28 with a seven-point surge that featured
John Camden's second three of the night. Moments later, the Bears edged back on top when
Dai Dai Ames nabbed a steal and foundÂ
Justin Pippen for a dunk that was soon followed by a Pippen 3-pointer that put Cal on top 33-30 at 3:56. Three minutes later, Pippen drained another key three to boost the Bears to a 38-35 advantage with a minute left in the half. Cal wasn't done. Camden floated an alley-oop pass to Dort for a booming slam, and Ames had the final word of the frame with a floater in the lane to net a 42-34 Cal lead at halftime.Â
It was a back-and-forth battle in the early goings of the second half with the Utes finding a scoring touch from 3-point range to help close the gap. With four Utah threes falling in the first six minutes of the half, the margin was down to 56-53. Utah had a chance to get within one, but came up empty from the free-throw line at 11:35. Seconds later, Camden stepped to the stripe and sank both his tosses to take Cal to a 58-53 advantage. The battle raged on, and the Utes reeled the Bears in to the tune of a two-point game with 3:00 on the clock. The Utes misfired, and Ames stepped to the stripe with 50 ticks to go to take Cal to a 75-70 lead. The Bears defense locked in again, with Pippen pinning up a huge block on a late-clock attempt from Utah that helped force a shot clock violation by the Utes with 20 seconds on the clock. Ames cranked out two more tosses from the line with 14 seconds to go to get a seven-point lead on the board, and he'd top things off with two more answering shots from the stripe after a Utah bucket to finish off a 79-72 final Cal win.
NEXT:Â Cal is playing out the calendar year on home turf, setting up camp at Haas Pavilion for eight straight home games. Next, the Bears host Pacific at 2 p.m. on Saturday (Dec. 6).
NOTABLE:
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Justin Pippen scored a career-high 23 points and tied his career high with three 3-pointers made.
- Pippen has scored in double digits in seven of Cal's eight games this season,.Â
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Dai Dai Ames recorded his fourth 20-point game of the season and seventh double-digit game with his 25 points tonight.
- Ames's 25 points was his highest total as a Bear.
- Cal is now 7-1 overall for the first time since 2016.
- Cal's win over Utah snapped a six-game losing skid to the Utes, marking the Bears' first win over Utah since 2021.
- With 13 points,
John Camden scored in double figures for the sixth time this season.
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Lee Dort tied his career high with 11 rebounds tonight.
- Cal is now 5-0 when holding its opponent to under 73 points.
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