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Shaking off a cold-shooting first half, the Cal Bears came on strong to beat Cleveland State on Tuesday night at Haas Pavilion. 

Led by senior forward Sean Lampley’s season-high 22 points, the Bears broke away late in the game for a 62-54 victory over the visiting Vikings. Junior center Solomon Hughes pitched in 10 points in the winning effort.  

Guard Jamaal Harris paced Cleveland State (3-4) with 19 points, with 15 coming in the first half, and Theo Dixon added 16 points.  

The win broke a three-game losing streak for Cal (2-3). Coming out of halftime tied at 27, the two teams traded scoring runs. Cleveland State scored the first seven points and then went up by eight at 37-29 five minutes into the period. Behind six points by Hughes and four more from Lampley, the Bears went on a 10-0 run to grab the lead for good at 39-37 with 10:45 left.  

“I thought the big key for us in the second half was picking up the pressure and doing a better job against Jamaal Harris,” Cal head coach Ben Braun said. “Cleveland State did a great job extending our defense.”  

Cal, which missed its first 12 three-point attempts, finally connected from behind the arc when Joe Shipp nailed a trey for a 45-38 advantage with 8:35 remaining. The Bears later extended their lead to 10 at 52-42 on a pair of Lampley free throws.  

Cleveland State responded by scoring five straight points to cut its deficit in half. Cal, though, made 10 free throws in the final 2:08 to put the game away. 

“I thought that we played a very good game and I thought that they (Cal) played a terrific second half,” said Cleveland State head coach Rollie Massimino. 

A combined 66 fouls were called in the contest, 34 on the Vikings.  

The Bears host Colorado at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. 

Contact Jared Green at jared@berkeleydailyplanet.net.