BERKELEY -- Charlie Moore scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half, Grant Mullins made eight free throws over the final 71 seconds and California held off a late surge to beat Colorado 77-66 on Sunday afternoon.
Ivan Rabb had 11 points and 11 rebounds, Mullins scored 16 and Jabari Bird added 10 points and six rebounds to help the Golden Bears to their fourth consecutive win and 12th in 13 games against Colorado at Haas Pavilion.
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California (17-6, 8-3 Pac-12) also moved into a tie for third place with UCLA. Both teams are two games behind No. 5 Arizona and No. 13 Oregon.
Derrick White scored 25 points and Toby Miller had 10 points and nine rebounds for Colorado (13-11, 3-8). Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle remains one win shy of 200 for his career.
Colorado trailed by as many as 23 in the first half but pulled within 62-57 on White's 3-pointer with 3:18 remaining.
Mullins followed with a 3-pointer - California's only basket over the final five minutes - to stop the slide and the Bears made 12 of 14 free throws to seal the win.
California appeared on the verge of a blowout early before Colorado's late push.
The Bears made five consecutive 3-pointers and had four different players score as part of a 24-2 run midway through the second half.
Bird, who scored the game-winning basket on a layup with 2.1 seconds left in double overtime to beat Utah on Thursday, had two 3s while Moore made three. The Bears led by as many as 23 before the Buffaloes pulled within 41-26 at halftime.
BIG PICTURE
Colorado: Another inconsistent performance on both ends of the court for Boyle's team. The Buffaloes went more than seven minutes without a basket in the first half and were late getting out to defend the perimeter. It didn't help that Xavier Johnson, the team's second-leading scorer, did not play for an undisclosed reason and spent the game sitting near the end of the bench.
California: The Bears made nine 3-pointers in the first half, more than they had in 17 full games this season. They made only two in the second half. . Kameron Rooks had nine points and six rebounds off the bench. . Center Kingsley Okoroh had three blocks to move into a tie for fifth place on the school's all-time list. Okoroh played while wearing a protective mask after suffering a broken nose in the second half against Utah on Thursday.
UP NEXT
Colorado: Returns home to host Washington on Feb. 9.
California: Plays at Arizona on Feb. 8 in the first of three straight road games.