Cal Hangs on to Beat Pacific and Improve to 8-1

Cal is off to its best start in 11 years as a result of the Bears' 67-61 win over Pacific on Saturday afternoon at Haas Pavilion.

Cal let nearly all of a 13-point second-half lead get away, as Pacific got to within two points with 25.9 seconds left, but Cal did enough to hang on.

Cal is 8-1, which represents the Bears' best start since it started the 2014-15 season 10-1. The Bears hurt themselves with poor foul shooting, making just 13 of 23 foul shots, but they made enough in the closing seconds by making four of six foul shots in the final 20 seconds.

Cal was led by Justin Pippen with 16 points, and Dai Dai Ames with 15.

Pacific (7-3) came into Saturday’s game riding a five-game winning streak.

Pacific's Elias Ralph entered the game averaging 18.2 points and he was coming off a 31-point performance in the Tigers' win over Air Force. But he scored just seven points on 2-for-10 shooting on Saturday.

However, Pacific's Isaac Jack collected 15 points and 16 rebounds.

Cal held a 13-point lead with 13 minutes left in the second half, but Pacific reduced the margin to five points when Jaden Clayton hit a three-point shot with 10:09 remaining.

Pacific made it a four-point game at 63-59 when Clayton scored on a driving layup with 1:20 to, but he missed a free throw on the potential three-point play. After a Cal turnover in the backcourt, Pacific reduced the Cal lead to two points on another Clayton layup with 25.9 seconds remaining, making it a 63-61 game.

John Camden made one of two free throws with 20.7 seconds remaining, and Ralph's three-point shot under pressure missed with 10 seconds left.

D.J. Campbell then hit one of two foul shots with 8.8 seconds left, and Lee Dort came up with a timely blocked shot to ruin the Tigers' ensuing possession. Ames finished the scoring with two free throws with less than one second left.

Cal got off to a fast start and led by as many as 14 points before settling for a nine-lead at halftime at 36-27.

Cal committed just three first-half turnovers, with the third coming with only 7.6 seconds left before halftime.

Pacific’s Ralph went 0-for-4 from the field in the first half, and his only points in the first 20 minutes came on two free throws with 45.9 seconds remaining.

Pacific stayed within striking distance by dominating the boards. The Tigers had 13 offensive rebounds in the first half, compared with just one for the Bears.

But Cal made up for that with accurate shooting. The Bears made six of their first seven field-goal attempts to take an early 16-4 lead. Cal extended the margin to 14 points when at 25-11 lead with 8:16 remaining in the first half. At that point, Pacific was 5-for-24 from the field.

Pacific closed to within six points with 3:15 to go in the half, but Cal pushed the margin to nine by halftime.

Cal ended up shooting 56% from the field in the first half an was 5-for-11 on three-pointers. Pacific made 33.3% percent of its first-half shots, and was 2-for-12 from beyond the arc.

NOTES

Cal's D.J. Campbell made his first start of the season on Saturday, replacing Chris Bell, who came off the bench for the first time this season. Saturday’s game was only the third game of the season for Campbell, who missed the first six games with a groin injury.

Cal’s Rytis Petraitis, who missed the Bears’ previous game against Utah, sat out a second straight game on Saturday with an injury.

Cal was a 9.5-point favorite over Pacific as of Saturday morning.

The Bears entered Saturday’s game with a 6-0 record at home.

Surprisingly, Fox put Cal in its 68-team NCAA tournament field in its Bracketology projection on Tuesday. Cal was one of the Last Four In.

Who is on the bubble right now? 👀 pic.twitter.com/O6wE1My4n7
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) December 2, 2025

However, ESPN's Joe Lunardi did not have Cal in the NCAA tournament field in his Bracketology posted Tuesday. Furthermore, he did not include the Bears among his First Four Out or his Next Four Out.

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