Anthony Goods entered Sunday night’s contest in a self-admitted slump. The junior guard had injured his ankle Feb. 2 against Washington State — but even before, something had been off.

In his last six games, Goods had averaged 5.8 points on 26 percent (11-for-42) shooting from the field. So he hit the gym, taking extra shots to regain his touch.

After Sunday’s game, a reporter asked Goods if his shot was back.

“Yes, sir,” Goods replied.

Goods scored a game-high 20 points, and Stanford held off a feisty California Golden Bears squad for a 79-69 win at Maples Pavilion last night.

“Shooters go through slumps,” said Goods, who is averaging 10.7 points per game for the season. “The coaching staff and my teammates have been sticking with me, helping me to get my confidence back.”

Goods certainly didn’t lack confidence Sunday. He hit shots inside and out — then driving and dishing to an open man. A pass to Brook Lopez with 1:43 left led to a thunderous dunk from the sophomore big man — bringing the house down at Maples.

Up eight points, Lopez blocked Cal’s Jerome Randle on the ensuing possession, held on to the ball, then hit two free throws and the game was safely in Stanford’s hands.

Lopez finished with 15 points and nine rebounds for the ninth-ranked Cardinal (22-4, 11-3 Pac-10), who remains one game behind No. 6 UCLA in the Pac-10 conference standings.

Beat on the boards, 33 to Cal’s 39, Stanford employed its trademark defense to withstand a California team that refused to go down easily. The Golden Bears (15-10, 6-8) narrowed Stanford’s lead to two points on five separate occasions in the game’s final 10 minutes, but each time the Cardinal had an answer.

“I thought we were resilient,” Stanford head coach Trent Johnson said. “They made a run, and I thought we responded very well.”

Stanford held sophomore forward Ryan Anderson — the Pac-10’s leading scorer at a 22-points-per-game clip — scoreless in the first half. Anderson, who finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, hit a three-pointer with 5:23 remaining to bring Cal within two points at 62-60.

But senior forward Taj Finger threw down a driving dunk on the next possession — billed on Sportscenter as “The Taj Finger Tomahawk” — and the Cardinal mounted a 14-4 run to regain command.

In a game hyped as a matchup between two of the conference’s best big men in Anderson and sophomore Brook Lopez, neither succeeded early on. Lopez managed only two points and two rebounds in the first half, but joined his brother Robin to pester Anderson to a 2-of-13 shooting night from the field.

“We tried to play defense on him,” Brook Lopez said of guarding Anderson. “He’s a great player. He got some shots, they just didn’t fall.”

Lopez, who had jammed his right hand diving for the ball in practice Wednesday, participated in limited practice the following few days. He showed no limitations Sunday evening, mixing it up with Cal’s equally physical front line on several occasions.

“I was excited to come out and play,” Lopez said. “I guess games do get a little heated. I try to keep from exploding, try to go out and enjoy it a little more.”

A similar attitude helped Goods break out of his shooting slump.

“It’s always good to relax, calm yourself down,” Goods said. “You’ve got to just let it go, live in the present.”

Stanford’s win improved its home record to 14-1 for the season. The Cardinal have won nine of the last 12 against Cal.