BERKELEY, Calif. - Freshman guard Shantay Legans finished with nine points and a season-high eight assists to lead Cal to a 68-61 victory over Hofstra Monday at Haas Pavilion.

With the win, Cal improved to 4-1, while Hofstra fell to 1-2. The Bears next play at Colorado Saturday night.

Hofstra maintained the lead most of the first half and frustrated Cal into just 26.9 percent shooting from the floor in the opening period. The Bears did put on a 9-0 run late in the half to take a brief six-point lead at 23-17. But the Flying Dutchmen outscored the Bears, 8-0, in the last four minutes to hold a 25-23 advantage at the break.

In the second half, Legans picked up the pace for Cal, scoring all of his points and dishing out seven of his assists. Despite upping their shooting pace to 68.2 percent, the Bears weren't able to take control until a Brian Wethers layup off a Legans assist put Cal up for good at 59-57 with 2:02 to go.

Down the stretch, four Cal players combined to shoot 9-for-10 from the free throw line to seal the victory. Legans was 2-for-2, Nick Vander Laan went 2-for-2, Sean Lampley was 1-for-2, and Joe Shipp made 4-of-4.

Vander Laan, who got his second start, led the Bears with 16 points, while Shipp finished with 12 points - all in the second half - and Wethers had 11. In addition, Lampley finished with nine points and a season-best 15 rebounds.

Hofstra guard Speedy Claxton led all scorers with 19 points, while also dishing out seven assists.

California vs. Hofstra - November 29, 1999 Post-Game Quotes

California Head Coach Ben Braun:

On the game in general:

"We have to try to play on a more even keel. It is really a feeling-out process for our team and it's tough. We're testing our young team early."

On playing a tough preseason games:

"You want to test your team, and Hofstra is a good team. A lot of teams are playing schools where they can rack-up the points, but we're not going to play those teams."

On Cal's second half performance:

"We're fortunate we came back in the second half with some big gut performances. I think the adjustment we made in the second half was good sign. We did a much better job coming off the screens."

Hofstra Head Coach Jay Wright:

General Comments:

"I'm glad we played (Cal) right now because this is going to be a very good team. I was hoping we could come in and give them a tough time, and maybe their inexperience would show, but they played great down the stretch."

On Shantay Legans:

"I thought Legans came in and really handled our pressure well. He is a very good player. He handles pressure well and didn't have a turnover."

"We were trying to get them (Cal) out of their offensive rhythm, and we trapped them a little bit. In the second half, Legans was beating the trap with the dribble, and then he was finding open people as we were trying to get matched up again, and I think that really hurt us."