Cal Pulls Away Late to Beat Northwestern State for 7th Straight Win

It took a while, but Cal finally pulled away from Northwestern State for a 79-70 victory at Haas Pavilion on Saturday afternoon.

The Bears used a 12-0 run beginning with 7:05 left and an effective stretch of zone defense to erase a 65-62 deficit and go on to their seventh straight victory.

Cal, seeking its first winning season in nine years, has won 10 games earlier on the calendar that anytime in program history. The Bears' 10-1 start is their best since doing so in 2014-15, and they hadn’t won seven consecutive games since the 2015-16 campaign.

"I would say it's a good starting point," third-year coach Mark Madsen said. "We want to immerse ourselves in kind of the daily process. There were some things that happened in the first half where we got away from our process and our principles. We have to get back to that . . . laying bricks, being a brick layer every day.

"It's a good start, but there is so much more work to do. You can't be complacent."

This wasn’t expected to be so competitive as the Demons (2-8) from the Southland Conference arrived with a 323 NET ranking. The Bears were coming off a 93-71 win over Division II Dominican in which they trailed at halftime, so this is two games in a row where Cal labored a bit against an inferior opponent.

In this one, the Bears trailed for a series of stretches in the game, finally taking the lead for good on a putback of his own missed shot by Dai Dai Ames with 6:31 left.

Forward John Camden scored a Cal career-high 25 points, including 6 for 9 from the 3-point arc. In his fourth school at Cal, Camden had four games of at least 30 points during his time at Delaware.

Ames added 20 points and freshman point guard TT Carr, in his first career start. posted season bests of 14 points and seven assists with just one turnover in 33 minutes.

Center Lee Dort contributed nine points, 13 rebounds, three blocked shots, three assists and two steals. Dort and Camden both spoke highly of Carr, a native of the North Bay community of Mill Valley, in the video above.

Madsen continues to be pleased with Dort, who changed his body in the offseason and has become a more well-rounded player, including as a passer out of the post.

The Bears played without starting point guard Justin Pippen, considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. As well as Carr played much of the afternoon, the Bears missed the scoring provided by Pippen, who averages 15.3 points, including 21.0 the three previous games.

Madsen said he doesn't expect Pippen to be sidelined for an extended period. The Bears are also awaiting the return of senior wing Rytis Petraitis, who has missed the past four games.

Cal plays its next game on Friday at home against Morgan State (2-8), which began Saturday 363 NET rating -- third-worst in the country.

This game was tight throughout, especially in the second half when no one led by more than five points until the final 3 minutes.

Ames dribbled the length of the court after an inbounds pass with 5.6 seconds left and scored on a drive at the buzzer to pull Cal even at 37-37 at halftime. All told, there were 14 lead changes and nine ties.

Cal shot 46 percent (12 for 26) from the 3-point arc and converted 17 of 21 free throws. The Bears outscored Northwestern State 16-8 on second-chance points but hurt themselves with 18 turnovers.

The Bears led 7-1 early but went cold from the field midway through the first half, allowing the visitors to lead 26-20 after a driving layup by Izzy Miles with 6:30 left. The Demons had made 8 of 10 shots over a span of 7 minutes.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Nolan Dorsey and Camden put the Bears back in from at 34-32. But after a 3-pointer by Northwestern State’s Justin Redmond made it 37-35 with 7 seconds left in the period, the Bears needed Ames’ buzzer-beater to get even.

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