Hot shooting leads Cal to signature win over No. 18 UCLA

SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Madsen was adamant about Cal becoming a better 3-point shooting team in the offseason. Chris Bell was tabbed to be a big part of the solution from behind the arc. Tuesday night the Syracuse transfer showed why.

Bell knocked down five 3-pointers en route to 22 points helping the Bears earn a signature 80-72 win over No. 18 UCLA. The former Pac-12 rivals linked up at Chase Center in San Francisco to close out the Empire Classic.

Bell shined and helped the Bears hit 11 3-pointers as a team to dispatch the Bruins. The Cal offense put pressure on Mick Cronin’s group to be even better defensively.

Madsen’s team had an answer for every spurt by UCLA.

The key stretch came in the second half when Cal went on a 10-0 run over the course of 2 minutes highlighted by one of Bell’s five 3-pointers in the game. The run provided the Bears with enough cushion to withstand a couple spurts from the Bruins the rest of the way.

Cal was down 46-43 with 16:16 to play but completely flipped the game and pushed its lead to 13, 69-56, by the 7:07 mark.

UCLA put together a run of its own late and trimmed the lead down single digits with under 4 minutes to play. Guard Dai Dai Ames and forward Rytis Petraitis came up with key baskets to keep the Bruins at bay.

Cal outscored UCLA 44-31 in the second half.

The Bears will be back in action Dec. 2 when they host another former Pac-12 foe, Utah, at Haas Pavilion.