RJ Godfrey and Ace Buckner each had 13 points to lead No. 20 Clemson to a 77-55 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over Cal on Saturday night at Berkeley, Cal.

The Tigers (20-4, 10-1 ACC) tied Duke at the top of the conference standings, won their fourth in a row and their 13th in their past 14 games. Clemson also extended its road winning streak to 14 in a row.

Cal (17-7, 5-6 ACC) was unable to pick up a Quad 2 victory that could have boosted its NCAA Tournament chances and had a two-game winning streak snapped.

The Tigers reached the 20-win mark for the fourth consecutive season.

Clemson seized control in the first half with a 23-1 run over a stretch of 12:40.

The Tigers defended well and took advantage of a terrible shooting stretch for Cal, which went scoreless from the field for 7:44 and scored their lone point on a Chris Bell free throw.

The Golden Bears shot 0 for 13 during that stretch and committed eight turnovers.

Cal led 13-9 following a Justin Pippen 3-pointer before the Tigers’ run began.

Clemson led 32-14 before Dai Dai Ames’ layup with 2:41 left in the first half snapped Cal’s shooting drought.

The Golden Bears made only 6 of 25 shots in the first half. Although it shot much better in the second half, going 13 for 23 (56.5%), Cal never pulled closer than 15.

Pippen led the Golden Bears with a game-high 19 points along with five rebounds and two steals. Bell had 13 points and Ames finished with 12.

For the Tigers, Jake Wahlin and Carter Welling also contributed 11 points each. Clemson shot 55.1% (27 for 49) from the field and made 12 of 26 from 3-point range.

Wahlin led Clemson on the boards with six while Buckner had four assists.

–Field Level Media

Moussa Diabate scored six straight fourth-quarter points, including a pair of thunderous dunks, to spark the visiting Charlotte Hornets to their ninth straight victory, a 126-119 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.

Trailing 110-109 with 6:31 remaining, Diabate made two free throws and threw down back-to-back slams to give Charlotte a five-point lead. Atlanta could never catch up but had a chance to tie the game with 15 seconds when Nickeil Alexander-Walker missed a 3-pointer.

The Hornets were led by Miles Bridges with 26 points and Kon Knueppel with 23 points, including six 3-pointers, and eight rebounds. LaMelo Ball added 19 points and nine assists. Diabate finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds.

Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson finished with 31 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Zaccharie Risacher scored 18 and Onyeka Okongwu, who returned from missing four games with a facial fracture, had 16 points and seven rebounds.

The Hornets matched their longest winning streak since winning nine straight during the 1998-89 season.

Atlanta led by nine points with 2:42 left the first quarter, but the Hornets cut the lead to 35-32 by the end of the quarter. Charlotte tied the game on a three-point play by Ball at 11:21, setting off a back-and-forth period that ended with the game tied 60-60 at halftime. There were 13 lead changes and four ties in the first half.

The Hornets, behind nine points from Ball, scored the final 11 points of the third quarter and took a 98-90 lead into the final period. A 3-pointer by Ball gave Charlotte a 101-92 lead, but Atlanta went on a 16-4 run to take a 108-105 lead on a 3-pointer by Risacher with 7:55 left.

The Hornets now lead the season series 2-1 and ended a three-game losing streak in Atlanta. The teams meet for the final time on Wednesday in Charlotte.

Atlanta’s newly acquired Buddy Hield and Gabe Vincent were available but did not play. The team said Jonathan Kuminga, the other player who came over in the trade, will be out until the All-Star break with a left knee bone bruise.

–Field Level Media

Ebuka Okorie led Stanford with a career-high 40 points as the Cardinal got back into the win column with a 95-72 win against visiting Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Okorie was 12-for-21 from the floor, 3-of-6 from 3-point range and made all 13 of his free throws. He added five rebounds, four assists, and four steals to his tally for the evening.

Jeremy Dent-Smith added 16 points, and Ryan Agarwal had a team-high nine rebounds for the Cardinal (15-9, 4-7 Atlantic Coast Conference), who had previously lost five straight games.

Akai Fleming posted 19 points and went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc and Baye Ndongo added 14 points for the Yellow Jackets (11-13, 2-9), who have lost five straight.

Georgia Tech leading scorer Kowacie Reeves (15.0 points per game) was sidelined with an illness which also limited him to six minutes in Wednesday’s loss at Cal.

Stanford shot 54.1% from the floor for the game and made 63% of its shots over the final 20 minutes. The Yellow Jackets, conversely, shot 43.1% in the game but only made 35.3% of its second-half shots.

Both teams exchanged small leads to start the game, but Stanford’s 8-0 run made it 17-9 with 13:15 remaining in the first half.

Georgia Tech used a 7-0 charge to take a 20-19 lead on a 3-pointer by Kam Craft.

After trading the lead for a few minutes, Stanford went on a 14-2 run to take a 35-24 lead with 5:21 left. The Yellow Jackets trimmed the gap with a 9-0 run, but the Cardinal took a 43-39 lead into halftime.

Stanford used a 9-0 run capped by four straight points from Okorie to take its largest lead, 56-43, with 16:01 left.

The Yellow Jackets cut the deficit to as little as five, but the Cardinal never let it get closer than that. Stanford closed the game on a 22-7 run to convert an eight-point lead with 6:44 left into a comfortable 23-point victory.

–Field Level Media