Behind Okerke, Cornell tops Cal for first win against the ACC since 1951

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — AK Okereke scored 24 points and Cooper Norad scored 21 points and Cornell withstood a furious second-half rally by Cal and beat the Golden Bears 88-80 on Tuesday.

Nazir Williams added 18 points and Jake Fiegen 11 for the Big Red (7-3), which beat an Atlantic Coast Conference team for the first time since December 1951, four years before the debut of Disneyland.

Joshua Ola-Joseph scored 21 points to lead the Golden Bears. Mady Sissoko had 13 points on 6-for-6 shooting. Andrej Stojakovic scored 13, reserve Jeremiah Wilkinson 12 and Jovan Blacksher Jr. 11.

Cal (6-4) turned a 52-29 deficit with 18:14 remaining in the game into a 72-71 lead with a 3-pointer by Stojakovic with 5:15 left. Undeterred, Cornell’s Guy Ragland Jr. buried a 3-pointer 15 seconds later and Cornell never trailed again.

Noard’s jump shot with 6:31 left before halftime gave Cornell a 32-18 lead. The Big Red finished the first half shooting 20 for 36 (55.6%) en route to a 47-29 halftime advantage.

Cal, which entered averaging 13 turnovers per game, equaled the mark before halftime. Cornell scored an equal number of points off Cal’s turnovers.

Cornell started the second half with a 5-0 start when Fiegen made three free throws and Okereke made a basket to give the Big Red their biggest lead.

It was only the third meeting between the two teams and the first in almost 32 years. Cal lost that most recent meeting 74-54 on Dec. 30, 1992, in the Seton Hall Meadowlands Classic in South Orange, New Jersey.

Prior to Tuesday’s 73-year losing streak, Cornell had lost 42 straight games against the ACC.

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