Wallace, Mathews lead Cal past Kennesaw St. 93-59

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) Tyrone Wallace had 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Jordan Mathews scored 16 and California beat Kennesaw State 93-59 on Sunday night in a regional round game of the 2K Classic.

Committing 15 turnovers, the Golden Bears (2-0) weren't as crisp offensively as they were in a season-opening win over Alcorn State.

Wallace, Cal's new point guard following the graduation loss of Justin Cobbs, scored seven consecutive points and 11 of 12 to push the Bears lead to 79-43 late in the second half.

Nigel Pruitt scored 16 points for Kennesaw State (0-2).

The Owls, who flew 2,800 miles on a cross-country flight on Saturday, played without coach Jimmy Lallathin, who was serving a one-game NCAA suspension.

Jabari Bird added 15 points and seven rebounds while Dwight Tarwater had 10 points for Cal.

The Bears scored the first nine points then slowly pulled away and built a 41-15 halftime lead.

The Owls were out of sync offensively all game. They committed eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the first half, were whistled for three offensive fouls early and failed to score on consecutive possessions until Pruitt's back-to-back buckets with 15 minutes left to play.

Delbert Love, Kennesaw State's leading scorer a year ago, had 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting.

TIP-INS

Kennesaw State: In its first five games alone, Kennesaw State will travel more than 10,000 miles while playing in three different states and time zones. ... In two games the Owls have scored 31 points combined in the first half.

California: Kingsley Okoroh had four points and four rebounds. The 7-foot-1, 254-pounder is easily the biggest post player on a Cal team that is extremely thin inside. ... Both of the Bears' wins this season have been by 34 points.

UP NEXT

Kennesaw State plays at Mercer on Wednesday.

California plays No. 23 Syracuse on Thursday in New York in the next round of the 2K Classic.