Cal upends Stanford 72-66 to complete regular-season sweep

Haas Pavilion brimmed with 9,020 fans as California held on for a 72-66 win over Stanford, completing the Golden Bears’ first regular-season sweep of the Cardinal since the 2009-10 Pac-10 championship season. Cal led 39-25 at halftime and never trailed in the afternoon contest at Berkeley.

Guard Chris Bell paced Cal with 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, adding seven rebounds and two steals. Bell scored five points during a 12-1 run that pushed the Golden Bears to their 14-point halftime edge. John Camden contributed 18 points and eight rebounds and sank a pressure free throw with 24 seconds remaining that preserved the margin. Dai Dai Ames finished with 17 points and seven rebounds for Cal.

Stanford rallied late behind Aidan Cammann and Ebuka Okorie but fell short. Cammann scored 19 points with six rebounds and two blocks, a line that sources described alongside an 11-of-19 free-throw phrasing in the box score. Okorie posted his first career double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds after entering the game averaging 22.5 points per contest, one of the nation’s top averages. Benny Gealer added 15 points and AJ Rohosy had 10 points with six rebounds, three steals and two blocks as Stanford finished 16-11 on the season.

The closing sequence boiled down to a furious 7-0 Cardinal run in the final 1:14 that fell short. A Justin Pippen turnover and a foul by Ames led to three free throws for Gealer, and a subsequent turnover by Ames set up a Cammann layup that made it 71-66 with 29 seconds left. Camden’s free throw at 24 seconds extended the lead to five, and late 3-point attempts by Gealer and Okorie missed in the final seconds, sealing the Golden Bears’ win.

Cal improved to 19-8 with the victory, bolstering what Mercury News noted as the Bears’ NCAA tournament resume; the Bay Area outlet reported Cal began the day at No. 61 in the NET rankings and is chasing its first NCAA bid since 2016. The sweep marked a milestone that coach Mark Madsen, a Stanford alumnus and identified as Cal’s third-year coach by local coverage, put into perspective: “It feels good, it feels nice but that is actually not the goal,” he said. “It’s a great milestone. a good measuring stick. But we have greater goals ahead than 20.”

The Golden Bears will return to Haas Pavilion to host SMU on Wednesday, while Stanford heads home to host Pittsburgh on Wednesday as the regular season winds toward conference tournaments and selection-line evaluations.