Macon MFA Agri Services

02/25 23:53 CST Pippen scores 24 points, leads Cal past SMU 73-69 Pippen scores 24 points, leads Cal past SMU 73-69 BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) --- Justin Pippen scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half to help California beat SMU 73-69 on Wednesday night. Pippen scored six points during a 10-2 surge to give Cal a 64-58 lead with 3:43 to play. But Corey Washington scored nine consecutive points, which included two 3-pointers, and SMU regained the lead at 67-64 with 1:58 remaining. John Camden answered with two free throws before Pippen hit a jumper and then shot 4 of 4 from the free-throw line to give the Golden Bears a 72-69 advantage with 12 seconds left. Jermaine O'Neal Jr. missed a 3-point shot for SMU on the next possession and Lee Dort added another free throw for Cal to seal it. Pippen missed 8 of 10 3-point attempts but finished 8-of-19 shooting overall and made 6 of 7 from the free-throw line. Chris Bell made four 3s and finished with 20 points for Cal (20-8, 8-7 Atlantic Coast Conference). Camden added 14 points and Dort scored seven points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Miller and Washington scored 15 points apiece to lead SMU (19-9, 8-7). Jaron Pierre Jr. added 14 points and Samet Yigitoglu chipped in with 11. Bell scored 15 points on three 3s and shot 6 of 8 from the floor to help Cal take a 38-33 lead into the break. Miller scored eight first-half points to pace SMU.

Up next SMU plays at Stanford on Saturday. Cal hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

	Copyright DTN. All rights reserved. Disclaimer.