BERKELEY -- The California men's basketball team received six clutch points from Justin Pippen in the final minute of action to take a late lead and work to a final 73-69 win over visiting SMU tonight at Haas Pavilion. The victory marked the Golden Bears' 20th win of the season -- the first time since 2016-17 that Cal has reached the 20-win mark. The Bears are now 20-8 overall and 8-7 in ACC play, while the Mustangs move to 19-9, 8-7.

Cal led by as much as nine in the first half before SMU reeled the Bears in. Still, Cal had a fierce final two minutes of that half to lead it 38-33 at the break. Cal was shooting 44.4 percent overall, behind the Mustangs' 48.3 effort, but the Bears had landed one more 3-pointer than SMU and were also ahead on the boards 20-17 at halftime. Justin Pippen clicked in for the second half on the Bears' behalf, scoring 19 points in the last 20 minutes and some big late buckets to help steady Cal to victory. The Bears finished up at 40 percent shooting overall, behind SMU's 45.5 percent, but landed one more 3-pointer and made one more free throw to secure Cal's 20th win of the season.

Pippen tied his career high with 24 points on the night and was joined in double figures by Chris Bell's 20 points and 14 from John Camden, while Lee Dort announced his return to action with 10 rebounds for the Bears. SMU had four players hit double figures, led by 15 apiece from Corey Washington and

Cal got a couple 3-pointers from Chris Bell and another from Milos Ilic to help the Bears lead it 11-7 at 15:45. John Camden joined the 3-point party a few minutes later, landing a long one to make it 16-11. Back in action for the first time since an injury in January, Lee Dort scored on a putback and then dished out an assist to a streaking Bell for a 20-13 Cal advantage at 9:45. Bell answered an SMU three with his third of the night, and then Sammie Yeanay found Mantas Kocanas down low to help Cal to a nine-point lead, up 23-13 with 8:45 to go in the half. The Mustangs managed an 8-0 rally later to carve the margin down to one before Justin Pippen broke that up with a free throw landed at 4:03. Again SMU answered, and the Mustangs edged into their first lead of the night with a 3-pointer at 2:25. Cal responded with a bucket from Pippen, promptly followed by a booming block from Dort and a spicy finish from Dai Dai Ames at the other end to get the Bears back on top. Camden had a fine finish with 1:00 to go, and Dort had the last word of the half with a slam that netted a 38-33 halftime lead for the hosts.

SMU worked back into the lead with a 9-0 rally that built a 50-45 advantage for the Mustangs with 11:45 on the clock. Pippen busted up that run with his first 3-pointer of the night. That sparked an 8-0 Cal surge to get up 53-50. The foul count tipped against Cal 9-1 while the Mustangs made it a one-point margin again, and then Sammie Yeanay went to the line and hit the back end for his first point as a Bear, making it 54-52 Cal with 8:10 to go. SMU would get into the double bonus at 7:17 and later took a 56-54 lead at 6:30. Then Pippen busted out six straight points all his own, and Dort delivered down low to take Cal to a 62-56 lead entering the last five minutes. Ames was tagged with his fifth foul with 3:03 remaining, and SMU would sneak back out ahead soon after, going up 67-64 at 1:58. Free throws from Camden and a clutch jumper from Pippen put Cal back on top with a 68-67 edge entering the final minute, where the Bears put a stop to things on the defensive end and then converted two Pippen free throws at the other to lead it 70-67 with 18 ticks to go. That was about enough, but Dort dropped in one last free throw with 2.9 seconds left to top off a 73-69 Cal win.

NEXT: Cal now sets up for its final regular-season home game on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Pitt. Cal will celebrate a group of seven graduating Bears before that game in a Senior Day ceremony at Haas Pavilion.


NOTABLE:
- Now with 20 wins this season, Cal has reached the 20-win mark for the first time since 2016-17.
- It's the most regular-season wins for the Bears since 2015-16, when Cal had 22 wins entering the 2016 postseason.
- With a career-high 24 points, Justin Pippen has hit double digits in 23 of his 26 appearances this season.
- It was his third 20-point game of the season.
- With 20 points, Chris Bell hit double digits for the 22nd time this season.
- It was Bell's third straight and eighth overall 20-point outing of the season.
- He has now scored in double figures in Cal's last nine games.
- With 14 points, John Camden scored in double digits for the 21st time this season.
- In his first game back since Jan. 4, Lee Dort had a game-high 10 rebounds -- his sixth double-digit rebounding effort this season.

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