Cal Tops No. 14 Tar Heels 84-78 At Haas

BERKELEY -- The California men's basketball team took down No. 14 North Carolina 84-78 in a fierce battle at Haas Pavilion, fending off the Tar Heels' late push to pocket a key conference win. The Golden Bears' first win over a top-15 opponent since 2016 was highlighted by a 20-point day from John Camden and 19 points apiece from Dai Dai Ames and Justin Pippen. Cal is now 14-5 overall and 2-4 in ACC play, while UNC goes to 14-4, 2-4.

Both teams were shooting well in the first half, but the Bears had the upper hand thanks in part to an 11-0 scoring rally during the frame. Cal shot 55.9 percent overall in those first 20 minutes and outrebounded the Tar Heels 18-14 while landing 10 threes. UNC shot 50 percent from the floor, hitting four 3-pointers in the opening half. An 18-3 run by the Tar Heels turned up the pressure in the second half, but the Bears held their ground. By the final buzzer, Cal had shot 50 percent from the floor overall and made 14 threes. UNC wrapped at 46.4 percent with nine 3-pointers in all, and the teams were even on the boards 34-34.

"For us, it was just about bouncing back ," Camden said after the game. "This was a big game for us, not only in terms of our tournament hopes, but in terms of our confidence as a team. Big win for us."

Camden, Ames and Pippen were Cal's three players in double digits, combining for 58 points. Lee Dort also pulled in a game-high 12 rebounds for the Bears. North Carolina was led in scoring by Caleb Wilson's 17 points, with Henri Veesaar and Derek Dixon adding 14 points each and Seth Trimble scoring 12 for the Tar Heels.

Cal peeled out to a 7-0 start thanks to some grunt work down low from Lee Dort and a 3-pointer from John Camden. The Tar Heels would pull even at 10-10 with 16:15 on the clock, only to see the Bears unleash an 11-0 surge that featured a fadeaway from DeJuan Campbell and a 3-pointer from Milos Ilic en route to a 26-13 Cal lead at 11:09. UNC manufactured a rally of its own to carve the margin to 31-26 at 6:50, but then the Bears' Chris Bell busted out a 3-pointer that stopped that run. Camden converted a three-point play next, and Cal was back out to a double-digit lead. Camden kept clicking, adding 11 points in the last 4:30 of the half for Cal. Ames hit double digits in the half as well with a jumper with 15 second remaining, and the Tar Heels got one late bucket to go to wrap the half as a 54-37 Cal lead.

An early 3-pointer from Ames pushed Cal to its largest lead of the day, up by 20 two minutes into the half. UNC later managed a 7-0 push that made the margin 63-50 at 14:45. Mantas Kocanas put a stop to that with his first 3-pointer of his Cal career at 14:15, and a few minutes later it was Campbell joining the 3-point parade -- becoming the seventh Bear to drain a three with his at 10:50 to make it a 70-52 Cal advantage. Free throws and 3-pointers began to fall for UNC next in an 11-0 run that got the margin to single digits with 6:04 on the clock. The Tar Heels would later beat the shotclock buzzer with a 3-pointer that made it 77-71 at 4:12. Camden interrupted things with his fourth 3-pointer, but UNC whittled the lead to four at 77-73 with 3:20 to go, and followed a Pippen score with another trip to the free-throw line to make it 79-75 entering the final minute. Pippen was sent to the stripe with 57 seconds to go and drained both. Then UNC hit a three with 18.6 ticks to go to bring it back to a three-point game at 81-78, but Pippen stayed perfect at the line eight seconds later for key strikes that nudged the Bears ahead 83-78, and Lee Dort topped things off with a huge defensive rebound and one more free throw to wrap up an 84-78 Cal win over visiting No. 14 UNC.

NEXT: The Bears have a rivalry clash coming up next week, with Cal heading to visit Stanford next Saturday (Jan. 24) at 5 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.

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NOTABLE:

- This was Cal's first win over a top-15 AP opponent since 2016, when the Bears beat No. 11 Oregon 83-63 at Haas Pavilion.

- Cal is now 2-2 against ranked opponents this season (wins over No. 18 UCLA and No. 14 UNC; losses to No. 9 Duke and No. 23 Virginia).

- With 20 points, John Camden scored in double digits for the 14th time this season and recorded his fifth 20-point game at Cal.

- With 19 points, Dai Dai Ames scored in double figures for the 16th time this season.

- With 19 points, Justin Pippen scored in double figures for the 15th time this season.

- Milos Ilic and Mantas Kocanas both hit their first 3-pointers as Bears today.

- Lee Dort hauled in double-digit rebounds for the fifth time this season with his 12 boards today.

- Cal's 54 points at halftime was the most scored in the first half by the Bears this season.