BERKELEY, Calif. — Christian Behrens scored a career-high 20 points, including eight late in the second half, Tyrone Wallace added 21 points and 11 rebounds, and California beat Eastern Washington 78-67 on Friday night to match its best start in 55 years.
Sam Singer also had a career high with 15 points while Jordan Mathews added 13 for the Golden Bears (10-1). Cal has won seven straight games despite being without half of its starting backcourt.
The Bears overcame a sluggish start for the third consecutive game behind a pair of big runs. Cal closed the first half on a 16-2 burst, then outscored the Eagles 20-5 in less than four minutes during the second half to pull away for good.
Tyler Harvey had a season-high 31 points and Venky Jois scored 23 for Eastern Washington (8-4).
First-year coach Cuonzo Martin has Cal is off to its best start since the 1959-60 when the Bears also opened 10-1.
Much like he has all season, Wallace provided the bulk of the scoring for Cal and got some much-needed support from Behrens.
The redshirt junior struggled defending Jois but countered it with a solid night offensively. He went 8-of-9 from the floor and scored eight points during the Bears’ big run in the second half.
Eastern Washington couldn’t keep up.
Jois helped the Eagles get out to an early lead. The junior forward from Australia had 11 points in the first 14 minutes, including a bank shot down low that put Eastern Washington up 24-21 with 6:34 left in the first half.
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