Rabb, Bird lead Cal past Washington

BERKELEY — With the Pac12’s top three teams already creating some separation from the rest of the pack, Jabari Bird realizes the importance of California keeping pace.

That was even more significant on a night when the Golden Bears had their worst shooting performance in nearly a month.

“At the end of the day, in the moment, as long as we win I’m happy,” said Bird after scoring 16 points in California’s 69-59 win over Washington on Thursday night. “We will look at film and see where we can do better but as of right now the W is the biggest thing for me.”

The Bears (12-5, 3-2 Pac-12) shot 44.6 percent over their previous four games but struggled in the first half when they missed 25 of 39 attempts.

Things turned around in the second half when Bird scored 10 and California shot 44 percent. Still, the Bears didn’t pull away until Stephen Domingo made two free throws and Ivan Rabb followed with a score off an offensive rebound and a jumper to make it 65-57 with 2:22 to play.

After Dickerson’s bucket, Charlie Moore and Rabb each made a pair of free throws in the final minute to seal it.

Cartwright scores careerhigh 21 in Stanford victory

STANFORD — Robert Cartwright set a career-high for the second straight game, scoring 21 points in Stanford’s convincing 84-54 victory over Washington State on Thursday

night.

Dorian Pickens added 18 points and Reid Travis had 17 for the Cardinal (9-8, 1-4 Pac12),

who stopped a four-game losing streak.

Conor Clifford scored 15 points to lead the Cougars (97, 2-2), who lost their second straight after a four-game winning streak. Josh Hawkinson added 14 and Ike

Iroegbu had 13.

Cartwright, who matched his previous career-high, against UCLA, in the first half, sank a long 3-pointer with 13:53 remaining to play to put the Cardinal ahead 6333.