BERKELEY — The California men's basketball team saw a 19-point lead erased in the second half, with visiting Saint Joseph's hitting a 3-pointer to take a lead with 1:50 to go and holding on to beat the Golden Bears 76-75 in the NIT Second Round at Haas Pavilion. The loss brings Cal's season to a close with a 22-12 overall record in the Bears' first trip to the postseason since 2017. The Hawks go to 24-11 overall and advance to the NIT Quarterfinals. 

"I'm proud of this group of players because a lot of people wrote off a lot of these players," head coach Mark Madsen said after the game. "A lot of people wrote off our team. We did things as a team that have not been done here at Cal for a long time. It's hard to even vocalize that because there's this sting to the loss, and I feel it and our players feel it. All of that being said, we took a step this season. And felt like we could have taken an even bigger step."

Cal saw seven Bears hit 3-pointers in the first half to help the hosts turn a tied game into a 41-33 lead at halftime. Cal had shot 42.9 percent overall in those first 20 minutes, outpacing the Hawks' 40.6 percent. St. Joe's scored just four points in the final four minutes of the first half while Cal maneuvered ahead and capped the half with a buzzer-beater from Dai Dai Ames. Five minutes into the second half, Cal got out to a 19-point lead, and the Bears were up by 14 with eight minutes to go. Saint Joseph's would not go away easily, however, and a 7-0 Hawk run got the margin to single digits. St. Joe's wrapped two 3-pointers around a Cal free throw in the final two minutes to edge ahead 76-75, and the Bears were unable to land an answering bucket in the remaining time as the Hawks emerged victorious. Cal finished out the game shooting 41.8 percent overall, and St. Joe's wrapped at 44.1 percent. The Hawks were ahead on the boards 45-39 and manufactured 42 points in the paint to Cal's 24.

The Bears were led in scoring by Chris Bell's 23 points with five 3-pointers made, and Dai Dai Ames added 16 for Cal, hitting his 1,000th career point along the way. Saint Joseph's had four players in double figures: Jaiden Glover-Toscano (24 points), Dasear Haskins (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Justice Ajogbor and Derek Simpson with 10 points each. 

Saint Joseph's scored the first seven points of the game to put the Bears on their heels early. DeJuan Campbell came off the bench to score Cal's first points of the night with a 3-pointer at 16:50. The Bears' work from beyond the arc helped pull them back into the game, with Sammie Yeanay landing his first three as a Bear and TT Carr snarling it up with a three of his own. That had it tied up at 16-16 at 10:40, and Cal would work into its first lead with a Lee Dort dunk and a bucket from Carr, lifting the Bears to a 20-19 advantage at 9:20. The lead traded hands back and forth for the next several minutes and locked up momentarily at 24-24 with 6:37 to do before the Hawks edged ahead 26-24 seconds later. Justin Pippen shifted the momentum with a 3-pointer and then a successful trip to the free-throw line to go up 29-26 entering the final five minutes of the first half. Nolan Dorsey and Chris Bell buried baseline threes next for the Bears, and after a score from St. Joe's it was Yeanay delivering down low and Dai Dai Ames beating the buzzer to build a 41-33 halftime lead for Cal. 

Cal continued to click in the second half, with another three falling for Bell and Ames stretching his career total out past the 1,000-point mark. His acrobatic back-to-back buckets got him into double digits on the night and carried Cal ahead 52-35 four minutes into the half. Bell then drained three 3-pointers in a two-minute span to craft a 61-42 Cal lead at 13:30. The Hawks heated up a little later, making a 7-0 run to carve the margin down to seven with 6:30 to go. St. Joe's edged into the lead with a 3-pointer at 1:50, going up 76-75 for its first lead since 6:23 in the first. Try as they may, the Bears were unable to land an answering bucket in the remaining time, and Cal's season came to a close in the NIT Second Round with the 76-75 loss.

NOTABLE:
- Dai Dai Ames became the fourth Bear to score his 1,000th career point this season, getting his career count to 1,000 on his basket at 16:43 in the second half.
- With 17 points tonight, Ames scored in double digits for the 29th time this season.
- Wth 23 points, Chris Bell scored in double digits for the 26th time this season and recorded his 10th game with 20 or more points at Cal.
- With two steals, Justin Pippen ended the season with 61 steals -- fourth most in a season by a Bear all-time.
- John Camden, who missed tonight's game with injury, finished the season with 87 made 3-pointers -- third most in a season by a Bear.
- Cal finishes the season with a 22-12 overall record, having recorded the most wins in a season since 2015-16.
- Cal's trip to the NIT marked its first postseason appearance since 2017, and its first-round win over UIC was its first postseason victory since 2014.

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