BERKELEY -- The California men's basketball team never trailed en route to a 72-66 win over visiting rival Stanford today at Haas Pavilion. The win topped off the Golden Bears' first regular-season sweep of the Cardinal since 2009-10 and improved Cal to 19-8 overall and 7-7 in ACC play. Stanford is now 16-11, 5-9.

Cal maneuvered out to a 39-25 halftime lead on 42.4 percent shooting -- ahead of Stanford's 38.5 percent effort. The Bears forced nine turnovers out of the Cardinal and were ahead on the boards 21-15 while two Cal players were in double digits by the break in Dai Dai Ames and Chris Bell. Cal's shooting cooled in the second half, but the Bears remained in control to finish out the win. Cal wrapped at 34.9 percent shooting overall with nine 3-pointers made and a 46-40 rebounding advantage. Stanford finished up shooting 33.3 percent overall, making eight 3-pointers but going 18-of-29 from the free-throw line.

Cal was paced by Chris Bell's game-high 20 points, with John Camden adding 18 and Dai Dai Ames at 17 on the day. Stanford received 19 points from Aidan Cammann along with 17 points and 13 rebounds from Ebuka Okorie. Benny Gealer added 15 points for the Cardinal, and AJ Rohosy had 10.

"The atmosphere here tonight was outstanding, and I just want to give a shout out to everyone that was part of that," Cal head coach Mark Madsen said. "Stanford is a very good basketball team. They made a late run, they kept us on our heels. I'm proud of our guys for making plays when we needed to."

Cal turned a 7-7 snarl into a 14-7 lead, forcing turnovers out of the Cardinal and capitalizing with a 7-0 surge. Stanford chipped the deficit down to two with 7:40 to go in the half before Chris Bell landed a 3-pointer and Dai Dai Ames delivered  a jumper to tug the Bears to a 23-16 lead 40 seconds later. Stanford hit one free throw next, and then John Camden drilled a three and Ames got to double digits soon after to build a double-digit lead for Cal, up 28-17 at 5:30. Cal made another push to close out the half, getting buckets from Justin Pippen and Ames and then another three from Bell to answer a Stanford strike to make it a 39-25 Bear lead at the break.

The teams stayed largely in stride as the second half unfurled, although Cal did hit a scoring lull from the floor between a three from Camden at 16:05 and a three-point play from Mantas Kocanas. That effort had Cal gripping a 52-38 lead with 11:51 on the clock. Stanford struck back and landed back-to-back threes to make it a single-digit game at the 10-minute mark, with the margin at 53-46. It got down to a six-point game with 5:30 to go until Bell dropped in his third 3-pointer of the day and Justin Pippen stepped to the stripe for two good tosses to make it 64-53 Cal at 4:05. The Bears would climb ahead  71-59 on three free throws from Bell entering the final minute, where Stanford would manage a 7-0 push to make it a five-point gap at 71-66 with 29 ticks to go. Camden hit the back end of a trip to the line next, and Cal held on to close out the 72-66 victory over its rival.

NEXT: Cal stays home next week for two more ACC games at Haas Pavilion. The Bears host SMU at 7 p.m. on Wednesday before setting up for their final regular-season home game next Saturday (Feb. 28) at 1 p.m. against Pitt. Cal will celebrate a group of seven graduating Bears before that game in a Senior Day ceremony.

NOTABLE:
- With a game-high 20 points, Chris Bell hit double digits for the 21st time this season.
- It was Bell's seventh 20-point outing of the season.
- He has now scored in double figures in Cal's last eight games.
- With 22 points at Boston College, Bell has recorded back-to-back 20-point games for the second time this season.
- With 18 points, John Camden scored in double digits for the 20th time this season.
- With 17 points, Dai Dai Ames scored in double figures for a team-best 24th time this season.
- Ames also recorded a career-high seven rebounds. 
- Cal is now 11-1 this season when Ames, Bell and Camden score in double figures.
- With today's win and victory at Stanford last month, Cal has recorded a regular-season sweep of the Cardinal for the first time since 2009-10.

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