STOCKTON, Calif. – Just over 24 hours after waging an intense battle with No. 1-ranked UCLA, the No. 2-ranked Cal men's water polo team proved hungry to get back in the win column as the Bears used a strong second half to pull away for a 14-10 victory over No. 4 Pacific at Chris Kjeldsen Pool.

Just over 24 hours after wrapping up a televised showdown with the Bruins, Cal (15-2) got back into the pool with a Pacific team that took the Bears to the limit multiple times in 2015. And, Sunday's match looked like it might follow that same script as the teams battled to a 6-all draw at halftime thanks to a pair of goals by the Tigers late in the second period.

But, after halftime, Cal changed the momentum in its favor. Thomas Carroll got the scoring started just 32 seconds into the period and Odysseas Masmanidis wasn't far behind, converting an even-strength goal off a pass from Nicholas Carniglia to make it 8-6.

The teams traded goals for the next few minutes with Luis Araya and Ege Colak sandwiching Pacific goals around a score by Carniglia for the Bears. Johnny Hooper had the final say though, scoring for Cal with 2:48 left in the period to make it 11-8 heading into the fourth.

Cal continued to build the lead early in the fourth. Goals by Luca Cupido, Pedro Stellet and Masmanidis made it 14-9 with just over three minutes to play and Pacific only added one more goal before the clock struck zero.

Hooper led the way on the final stat sheet with four goals, moving his season total to 50 in the process. Masmanidis scored three, Cupido added two and Stellet, Safak Simsek, Carniglia, Carroll and Conor Neumann scored one apiece in the victory.

Despite Pacific (14-5) eventually making it into double digits in goals, Cal came up big on defense when it mattered. The Tigers got 16 chances with the man advantage and only scored four times. Cal goalkeeper Lazar Andric played a big role in that effort, stopping 13 shots and collecting four steals.

Sunday's match was the first of four straight on the road for the Bears as they next travel to Southern California for a 6:30 p.m. match at USC on Saturday that will be televised on Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Los Angeles. After taking on UC Irvine and Pepperdine the following weekend, Cal wraps up the 2016 regular season on Nov. 12 in Berkeley when it hosts Stanford in the Big Splash.