Cal Completes Season Sweep of Stanford, Earns 19th Victory

John Camden grew up in Pennsylvania and attended college in Tennessee, Virginia and Delaware before landing at Cal this season.But the senior forward had a pretty idea what it means to the Cal community that the Bears’ 72-66 victory over Stanford on Saturday afternoon gave them a season sweep in the rivalry game.

“Even before I got to Cal, I knew it was always Cal-Stanford. Just because I wasn’t a part of it in the past, doesn’t mean I didn’t know how big of a deal it was,” said Camden, who had 18 points and eight rebounds.

"I definitely knew the magnitude of this and how big it is for our university. Aware of going 2-0 for the first time in 26 years . . .oh, 16? Twenty-six sounds better.”

Maybe, but the Bears first sweep in the basketball Big Game since their Pac-10 championship season of 2009-10 was a happy occasion for the 9,020 fans at Haas Pavilion.

That Cal team was coached by Mike Montgomery, who made his reputation with the Cardinal. These Bears, of course, are in their third season under coach Mark Madsen, who played at Stanford.

Madsen inherited a program that won just three games the year before his arrival, and Cal (19-8, 7-7 ACC) has now reached .500 in conference play and is just one game shy of a 20-win season for the first time since 2017.

“It feels good, it feels nice, but that is actually not the goal,” Madsen said. “It’s a great milestone. a good measuring stick. But we have greater goals ahead than 20.”

The Bears are striving for their first NCAA tournament bid since 2016, when their roster included NBA star Jaylen Brown. Cal began the day at No. 61 in the NET computer rankings and tied for ninth place in the ACC standings.

The Bears remain tied for ninth with four games left to play before the ACC tournament. A top-nine finish earned a first-round bye.

Cal led 39-25 at halftime and maintained a double-digit lead much of the second half. The Bears were up 71-59 with 1:14 left after three free throws by Chris Bell, then lost composure and allowed Stanford to pull within five points in the final seconds before time ran out.

The Cardinal (16-11, 5-9) will have a nearly impossible time securing an at-large bid to the NCAAs after losing for the seventh time in nine games.

Bell scored 20 points for the Bears and Dai Dai Ames added 17 points and seven rebounds. Justin Pippen, the club’s No. 2 scorer, had a tough shooting night, hitting just 2 of 10 attempts but did a solid defensive job against Stanford star guard Ebuka Okorie.

Okorie, who already has broken Stanford’s freshman scoring record, scored 17 points to go with 13 rebounds.

Coach Kyle Smith acknowledged Cal poses a challenge defensively with four players capable of scoring 20 points.

“They’re unique and they’re good and they’re hard to guard,” Smith said. “They put a lot of pressure on you, especially in transition. You can’t make one mistake. They’re pretty selfless, too. They pass the ball well. You miss a guy and those are good shots for them.”

The Bears outrebounded Stanford 46-40 and limited the Cardinal to 33-percent shooting from the field, 29 percent from the 3-point arc. While the Bears converted 19 of 23 free throws, Stanford hurt itself by missing 11 of its 29 tries.

NOTE: Starting center Lee Dort (8.3 points, 7.7 rebounds) missed his seventh consecutive game due to a lower-body injury. The senior sustained his injury during the Bears’ 78-66 victory at Stanford on Jan. 24.

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