BERKELEY – California men's basketball opened the 2019-20 season with a 98-75 exhibition win over Saint Martin's behind a game-high 23 points from graduate transfer Kareem South Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion.

Sophomore Matt Bradley added 18 points and five assists for California, while junior Grant Anticevich tallied 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go along with six rebounds. Freshman Lars Thiemann recorded nine points and four blocked shots for the Bears.  

"We tend to practice very unselfishly. I don't think we have anybody that's a ball-stopper," said head coach Mark Fox. "I think they enjoy making each other better. We talk about making each other better and I think tonight we were able to do that."

Cal used an 11-0 run to build a 10-point lead at the 14:02 mark of the first half and led by as many as 15 in the first 20 minutes, before the Saints closed the half on a 7-2 run to make it 44-41 at the break.

The Bears extended the lead back quickly after halftime and held a 57-45 advantage at the under-16 media timeout with 15:34 left in the game. Cal used a 10-1 run to take a 79-58 lead and Saint Martin's wouldn't get closer than 17 the rest of the way.

California scored 22 points off of 15 Saint Martin's turnovers, held a 44-22 advantage in points in the paint and outscored the Saints 21-0 in fast break points.

"It was great to finally play a game. It is why we all fell in love with the game was the chance to compete and to play and it was really good for our team to actually have a chance to play," Fox said. "We did a lot of good things, we have a lot of teachable moments we can look back on."

Up Next: The Bears open the Mark Fox era on Tuesday, Nov. 5 with a 7 p.m. tipoff inside Haas Pavilion against Pepperdine. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.