Big 1st half lifts Bakersfield over Cal 73-66 in NIT (Mar 14, 2017)
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) Dedrick Basile scored 16 points of his 18 points in the first half when CSU Bakersfield was almost flawless and the Roadrunners held on to defeat short-handed California 73-66 in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday night.
The Roadrunners, participating in their first NIT, play at Colorado State in the second round.
The eighth-seeded Roadrunners (23-9) blitzed the Bears in the first half, making 8 of 13 3-pointers and shooting 50 percent overall to open a 44-19 lead. The Bears made just 4 of 24 shots from the field (17 percent). Basile, who reached 16 points before top-seeded Cal, and Damiyne Durham both had four 3s.
Cal (21-13) was without its top two scorers. Jabari Bird suffered a concussion in the Pac-12 Tournament and Ivan Rabb was out with a reported foot injury. The Bears cut the margin to eight on a 3-pointer by Grant Mullins with 2:07 to play and got within six with 7.2 seconds left.
Bakersfield's last basket came on a 3-point play by Brent Wrapp with 4:23 to play that made it 63-47 but the Roadrunners made just 10 of 18 free throws after that.
Shon Briggs had 17 points for the Roadrunners, who were 1 of 8 from distance in the second half and shot 30 percent.
Don Coleman had 23 of his career-high 26 points in the second half for Cal.
