Donovan Williams scored a game-high 23 points Friday night and Pacific canned 13 of 26 3-point attempts to register an 87-79 nonconference win over Cal in Berkeley, Calif.
The Tigers (1-1) outscored the Golden Bears (1-1) by 21 points from behind the arc and put five players in double figures. Judson Martindale added 15, while Burke Smith came off the bench to net 12 points.
Moe Odum chipped in 11 and Tyler Beard contributed 10 points for Pacific, which finished the game shooting 49.2 percent from the field. The Tigers also got the job done at the line in the second half, converting 15 of 18 to close the game out.
Jalen Cone tallied 22 points for Cal, while Jaylon Tyson scored 20 points to go along with 11 rebounds in his Bears debut. Fardaws Aimaq added 18 points, but only three other players got into the scoring column for the Golden Bears.
Pacific took the lead for good with 7:16 left when Villiam Garcia Adsten sank two foul shots to make it 63-62. That was part of a 15-0 run for the Tigers that Odum capped with two free throws at the 4:52 mark for an 11-point cushion. The visitors held Cal scoreless for 5:09 in that stretch.
The main storyline prior to tipoff was the addition of Tyson to the Cal roster. The former Texas Tech player won his appeal for eligibility Thursday after it was initially denied by the NCAA on the grounds that he was a two-time undergraduate transfer.
However, Tyson’s debut, impressive as it was, soon became a backburner item because Pacific got off the mark from the 3-point arc. The Tigers, who were ranked fourth in Division I last season at 39 percent from long range, made 7 of 14 3-point attempts in the first half.
Pacific opened up a 25-20 lead less than nine minutes into the game by canning four 3-pointers, then took a 40-38 edge into halftime when Smith sank a 3-pointer with 12.0 seconds left off a feed from Lesown Hallums Jr.
–Field Level Media
