MALIBU, Calif. – A strong defensive first half and a standout day from goalkeeper Lazar Andric allowed the Cal men's water polo team to build a lead and the No. 3-ranked Bears weathered a comeback bid from No. 9 Pepperdine to earn a 12-7 victory at Runnels Memorial Pool.

One day after a hard-fought defensive battle yielded a win over UC Irvine, Cal (17-3) continued to show its strength on that end of the pool early against the Waves. The Bears allowed just one goal in the first two periods which led to a 5-1 Cal advantage by halftime.

Pepperdine (12-11) returned to action in the third period intent on drawing closer and scored the first two goals of the half to narrow Cal's lead to 5-3. That margin was as close as the Waves would get though as Cal righted the ship to score four of the next six goals, three of which came from junior Luca Cupido, to take a 9-5 lead into the final eight minutes of action.

Three more goals in the fourth period helped the Bears pull away even further and finish with the five-goal victory. Cupido was the offensive star for Cal, scoring a season-high five goals in the victory. Freshman Safak Simsek added two goals while Pedro Stellet, Chandler Jarrels, Nicholas Carniglia, Odysseas Masmanidis and Johnny Hooper scored one apiece.

Sunday's defensive stats also told the tale of the match as Andric, who already led the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) in saves per game entering the weekend, made 18 saves. Hooper added a strong defensive effort with three steals and Cal finished with 10 steals as a team.

Next up for the Bears is the 2016 regular season finale as they'll host Stanford on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the annual Big Splash. The match will be televised live on Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12.com. From there, Cal heads back to Los Angeles for the MPSF Tournament that begins Nov. 18 at UCLA.