Williams was 7 for 12 from the field and made 16 of 22 free throws. He had originally set the free-throw attempt record with 21 against Wisconsin in the Maui Invitational last season, but made only 13 of those free throws.
"I didn't know that," Williams said of his record. "I'm glad that I made more than last time. I don't know what to say. Broke another record, I guess. I'm glad we got the win."
Williams was similarly almost bashful when discussing the way he took the game over.
"Today, I had to be a little selfish and put everybody on my back," Williams said. "We had big shots as well. Jamelle (Horne) hit two big threes and (Kyle) Fogg hit one three. Without those shots we don't win."
Indeed, it was Horne who hit a three-pointer to cut what was a nine-point Cal lead to just 57-55 with 7:28 to go, while UA tied the game at 60 two minutes later when Williams tied his career-high of 28 points with two free throws.
Horne, who lost his starting job to Jesse Perry last month, earlier hit a three-pointer that cut Cal's lead to three points midway through the second half.
"It was just teammates finding me and believing in me to put me in that position to make those shots," Horne said. "I know they have my back. Last year we wouldn't have been able to pull out a game like that."
UA coach Sean Miller seconded that motion after a game in which the Wildcats blew a 10-point first-half lead to trail by one at halftime and up to nine in the second half. Cal initially stymied with a zone defense in the first half that normally man-to-man-oriented coach Mike Montgomery pulled out.
"There were also some times we did not play well and yet we were able to make some game-winning plays down the stretch and fight hard," Miller said. "This was a game we could not have come close to winning a year ago."
After Horne's shots, it was Fogg who popped up with a minute left.
Arizona entered the final minute with a 70-67 lead after Fogg hit a three-pointer. Cal intercepted a pass from Kevin Parrom to Fogg and the Wildcats fouled Allen Crabbe behind the line, but Crabbe hit only 2 of 3 to keep UA ahead 70-69.
MoMo Jones then hit two free throws to make it 72-69 before Richard Solomon was fouled on the other end by Williams and hit both of his attempts to cut UA's lead to one point.
But Solomon Hill hit the first of two free throws, and after Cal rebounded his miss with two seconds to go, Jorge Gutierrez took an inbounds pass to shoot an 18-footer that missed at the buzzer.
Cal's Markhuri Sanders-Frison, who had 12 points and five rebounds while hurting the Wildcats particularly in the second half, fouled out with 2:52 to go.
Williams tied the game at 60 with five minutes to go and then added two free throws to put UA in 62-62 tie.
The win moved Arizona to 13-3 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-10 entering a Saturday afternoon game with Stanford.
The Bears dropped to 7-7 and 0-2.
Having taken over the lead just before halftime, Cal expanded it to 41-32 with an 8-0 run early in the second half. The Bears kept Arizona scoreless for over three minutes, with Williams scoring the Wildcats' first bucket of the second half with 16:43 to go.
Sanders-Frison kept the Bears ahead in the middle of the half with three inside scores in a row, getting the Bears' lead up to 55-48.
Arizona led nearly all of the first half, by up to 10 points, but lost the lead just before halftime when Gutierrez hit a pair of free throws with one second left.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 15-5 lead but began sputtering after Cal started playing zone defense.
Cal went on a 9-3 run to cut UA's lead to 18-13 and eventually tied the game at 27 after a Jones turnover led to an Crabbe three.
The Bears had four free throws and an inside basket from Solomon in the final minutes to take the lead.
Crabbe led Cal in scoring with 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting while Williams had 12 for Arizona.
The Wildcats shot just 35.3 percent from the field, and made only 3 of 10 three-pointers. Cal shot 42.9 percent from the field and made 4 of 7 three-pointers.
Crabbe first brought the Bears within a point, 23-22, with 6:05 left in the first half.
Arizona went up 9-2 at the first media timeout, having held Cal scoreless for the first three minutes, and eventually took a 15-5 lead on a three-pointer from Williams.
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