Dai Dai Ames’ three-point basket with 12:02 left gave Cal the lead for good, John Camden led the way with 20 points and the Golden Bears survived a Presbyterian scare in a 67-57 victory Tuesday night in the first round of the Empire Classic in Berkeley, California.
Lee Dort helped Cal’s cause with 15 points and Chris Bell had 14 for the Golden Bears (4-1) in the first game of the four-team round robin that also features UCLA and Sacramento State.
After a tightly contested first 28 minutes in which neither team led by more than seven points, Presbyterian’s Carl Parrish gave the visitors a 44-43 lead with a 3-pointer.
Ames responded with his only 3-pointer of the game 15 seconds later, and when Camden scored a triple of his own, Cal had a 49-44 lead.
Camden, who had 22 points in his Cal debut against Cal State Bakersfield but then totaled just 33 points in his next three games, made six of his 12 shots on a night where the Golden Bears shot 51 percent as a team.
Bell also shot 6 of 12 in the game, while Dort went 7 of 9 to complete a game-high eight rebounds.
Ames, Cal’s leading scorer entering the contest at 22.5 points per game, finished with just seven points, while Justin Pippen had a team-high six assists for four points.
In a game that featured just 13 3-pointers, Parrish shot 5 of 11 from deep en route to a team-high 16 points for the Blue Hose (3-4).
Triston Wilson and Jonah Pierce added 13 points each, with Wilson finding time to pull down a team-high six rebounds. Josh Pickett contributed with five points, five rebounds and five assists.
After opening Empire Classic play with a 64-62 loss at Sacramento State on Sunday, Presbyterian led Cal by as many as five points in the first half. The Blue Hose outscored the hosts 34-30.
–Field level media
