LAS VEGAS — California got the ball to David Kravish in the post early and though his first few shots did not go in, it opened things up for the Bears the rest of the game.
Kravish had 25 points and eight rebounds, lifting California to a dominating 84-59 win over Washington State in the opening game of the Pac-12 tournament on Wednesday.
“We established David in the post,” Cal coach Cuonzo Martin said. “I thought that set the tone for us offensively; if we’re able to do that, then our perimeter guys could play.”
Cal (18-14) turned a close game into a rout with an impressive shooting display, hitting 14 of 15 shots spanning halftime to build a 17-point lead.
The eighth-seeded Bears shot 58.5 percent overall and went 8 of 12 from 3-point range to earn a spot in Thursday’s quarterfinals against No. 5 and top-seeded Arizona.
Jordan Mathews had 19 points and Tyrone Wallace added 12 for California.
Kravish caused the most problems, hitting 10 of 17 shots despite opening with six straight misses.
“We talked about keeping the ball out of his hands and keeping him from touching it so much and just didn’t think we did a very good job of that,” Washington State coach Ernie Kent said. “Once he got rolling and got his confidence, he was very, very difficult to stop.
Washington State (13-18), the tournament’s No. 9 seed, struggled defensively and failed to hit a 3-point shot until late in the second half.
Ike Iroegbu led the Cougars with 17 points. Leading scorer DaVonte’ Lacy held to 9 points on 4 of 11 shooting and struggled with emotions on the bench after his final game.
“To me, part of the emotion you saw was a young man who loved his teammates, who loved his college experience, and therefore it was very difficult to see that come to an end,” Kent said of Lacy.
Both teams had tough first seasons under new coaches.
Cal got the season off to a good start under Martin, going 10-3 in non-conference, then lost six of its first seven Pac-12 games. The Bears put together a five-game winning streak, but followed that by losing five of their final six.
Washington State wasn’t quite as streaky under Kent and had some solid wins, including Oregon. There also were some difficult losses that led to a ninth-place finish in the Pac-12.
The Bears and Cougars split two games during the regular season, each winning on the road.
In the tournament opener, Cal repeatedly found holes in Washington State’s interior defense, setting up easy baskets around the rim.
Kravish did the most damage, hitting his final four shots after missing his first six to finish with 10 points and seven rebounds by halftime. Cal hit 14 of 28 shots and led 37-26 after Jabari Bird hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds.
The Bears also effectively harassed Lacy, holding him to two points on 1 of 3 shooting.
Jabari Bird had primary duties on Lacy and got help from his teammates the few times he did get beat.
“He did a great job of staying down,” Martin said. “He didn’t get back-doored the whole game. Did a great job setting you up, chasing off screens and challenging his shots.”
Cal continued to shoot well at the start off the second half, hitting its first five shots to push the lead to 47-30 in the opening 4 minutes.
The Bears’ hot shooting continued throughout the second half. Kravish had his way inside again, Matthews hit a pair of 3-pointers and Cal hit 17 of 25 shots to keep the lead well out of reach.
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