CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. -- The California men's basketball team made it an ACC road split in collecting an 86-75 win over host Boston College today at Conte Forum. Chris Bell scored a game-high 22 points for the Golden Bears, making six 3-pointers along the way to Cal's 18th win of the season. Cal is now 18-8 overall and 6-7 in ACC play, while Boston College goes to 9-16, 2-10.
Cal hit seven 3-pointers in the first half and was shooting at a 53.6 percent clip through those first 20 minutes to lead it 43-28 at halftime. Boston College was at 35.7 percent from the floor, but was up on the boards 19-15. Eight different Bears had scored in the first half, led by Chris Bell's 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting beyond the arc. The Bears heated up a bit more in the second half, but so did the Eagles, although Cal fended off its host and secured the win while wrapping the offensive end at a 55.6 percent overall effort. Boston College warmed up to finish up at 48.3 percent overall, and won the battle of the boards 35-25. Cal made a total of 14 threes in the game -- one shy of its season record.
Bell's game-high 22 points led four Bears in double digits, with John Camden and Dai Dai Ames added 15 each and Justin Pippen scoring 12. Boston College was led by Fred Payne 16, along with 14 from Chase Forte and 12 each from Jayden Hastings and Luka Toews.
Cal's interruptive defense limited the Eagles to just one made field goal in the first six minutes of action while the Bears opened up a 15-4 lead thanks in part to a 9-0 rally. Boston College fired back with a 7-0 spurt to make it a four-point margin before Justin Pippen stopped that run with take to the hoop at 10:35. He'd nail a 3-pointer 90 seconds later, and Mantas Kocanas drilled one of his own to lift Cal ahead 27-17 with 7:50 on the clock. Chris Bell joined the 3-point party with back-to-back threes to carry Cal to a 35-21 lead entering the final five minutes of the half. After knocking down a pair of free throws, Camden unleashed another 3-pointer, and Cal was up by 20 with 1:49 on the clock. The Eagles got a couple buckets to go before the break, and it was 43-28 for halftime.
Bell unfurled two more quick threes and Camden hit his third of the day to get Cal out to a 20-point lead once more. It wouldn't last long again, though, thanks to a 6-0 Eagle answering run. Nolan Dorsey became the fifth Bear to hit a three, making it 62-45 Cal at 12:10. The Bears' lead was 70-55 entering the final seven minutes thanks to knifing scores from TT Carr and Bell. The Eagles got the deficit to single digits with 2:15 remaining, but Camden fired off a 3-pointer moments later to craft an 83-71 Cal lead at 1:55. The Bears stayed the course down the stretch to round out a final 86-75 road win.
NEXT: Cal returns to Berkeley to host rival Stanford at 3 p.m. PT on Feb. 21 at Haas Pavilion.
NOTABLE:
- With a game-high 22 points, Chris Bell hit double digits for the 20th time this season.
- It was Bell's sixth 20-point outing of the season.
- He has now scored in double figures in Cal's last seven games.
- With 15 points, John Camden scored in double digits for the 19th time this season.
- With 15 points, Dai Dai Ames scored in double figures for a team-best 23rd time this season.
- With 12 points, Justin Pippen scored in double figures for the 22nd time this season
- Pippen leads the Bears with double digits scored in the last 13 straight games.
- This was Cal's seventh game shooting 50 percent or better, now 6-1 in such games.
- Sammie Yeanay made his first appearance as a Bear today.
- This was Cal's first-ever game at Boston College.
