Cal Basketball: Bears Win in Mark Fox's First Game -- Cal 87, Pepperdine 71
Cal won its opener on Tuesday, posting a 87-71 victory over visiting Pepperdine in the Bears first game under new coach Mark Fox.
Matt Bradley led the Bears with a career-high 25 points, hitting 5-of-7 three-point shots.
Paris Austin did not start but was a catalyst in the second half, when the Bears rallied from a two-point halftime deficit. He finished with 14 points. Andre Kelly had 16 points off the bench for the Bears, who were 2-point underdogs to the Waves, who were picked to finish fourth in the West Coast Conference.
Cal shot 71.4 percent from the field in the second half, when it made 6 of 8 three-point attempts.
Colbey Ross led Pepperdine with 19 points, but all but two came in the first half.
Here is the rundown from the start.
Getting ready for start of Cal-Pepperdine game.
Cal's starting lineup: Joel Brown, Matt Bradley, Lars Thiemann, Kareem South, Grant Anticevich.
Bit of surprise. Freshman Brown starting instead of senior Paris Austin.
Pepperdine's star is guard Colbey Ross.
Austin entered the game three minutes into first half.
Pepperdine leads 9-6 at the first media timeout -- 15:32 left in the first half. Bradley leads Cal with four points.
Cal was 1-for-5 from the field before Bradley hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 9-9.
Bears score nine straight points to take an 18-11 lead. Cal leads 18-13 at second media timeout (10:09 left). Bradley and Andre Kelly have five points apiece for Cal. Ross has four points for the Waves.
Pepperdine ties the score 22-22 with 6:22 left in the half. Victor Ohia Oioha has a game-high six points for Pepperdine.
Cal has already used nine players. Pepperdine has used 10.
Bradley picks up second foul with 6:02 remaining in first half. The second was a flagrant-one foul. On that play Skylar Chavez made the basket plus two free throws to give the Waves a 26-24 lead.
With 3:53 left in the half, Pepperdine leads 32-28. Ross has hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions and has 12 points for the game.
Brown and Austin were on the court together a lot in the first half, when the Bears went with three guards often.
Halftime: Pepperdine 37, Cal 35
Ross scored 11 straight Pepperdine points late in the first half and had 17 points at halftime. South had nine points for Cal, which shot 42.3 percent from the field and committed six turnovers.
Same Cal players who started the game also started the second half.
The Bears scored seven straight points to take a 46-45 lead at the 16:06 mark. A South 3-pointer in transition put Cal on top.
12:10 left in second half: Cal 57, Pepperdine 49
Paris Austin has been the instigator in Cal's run to take the eight-point lead. He scored the last four points in an 11-point run that gave Cal the 57-49 lead. Cal is shooting 9-for-11 from the field since halftime.
It evenutally became a 17-point Cal run when Bradley hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to give Cal a 63-49 lead with 10:05 left. Bradley has 17 points so far.
7:18 left in the game: Cal 67, Pepperdine 53. Bradley has 17 points, Kelly has 14. Ross has not yet scored in the second half.
3:43 left: Cal 79, Pepperdine 62. Bradley has 20 points so far. Cal shooting 17-for-24 (70.9 percent) in second half. Anticevich has a career-high 10 rebounds.
Final: Cal 87, Pepperdine 71
