Lucas Taylor scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds, helping Syracuse overcome its road struggles in a 75-66 win against Cal on Saturday in Berkeley, California.
J.J. Starling added 18 points for Syracuse (10-12, 4-7 ACC), who had been 1-8 on the road but played much better to break a three-game losing streak.
Jeremiah Wilkinson and Jovan Blacksher Jr. each scored 20 points to lead Cal (11-11, 4-7), who has now lost two straight. Rytis Petraitis contributed 13 points.
Blacksher’s jumper early in the second half ended a field goal drought for Cal, which had gone without a basket since Blacksher’s 3-pointer at the 5:17 mark of the first half. That shot had brought Cal within 26-17.
Cal played its fourth consecutive game without leading scorer Andrej Stojakovic, who is out with a hip injury.
Syracuse’s leading rebounder, Mady Sissoko, returned after missing Wednesday’s loss to SMU due to a concussion but didn’t score and grabbed six rebounds.
Cal trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half but cut the lead to 43-36 with 16:20 left, following an 11-0 run sparked by Wilkinson’s 3-pointer.
The Golden Bears were down 58-51 with 6:47 left after a 3-pointer from Blacksher, and they got as close as 67-61 with 1:14 remaining, thanks to a layup by Blacksher.
This was the first meeting between Syracuse and Cal since 2014, when Cal won 73-59 in the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Syracuse jumped out to an early lead, thanks to a 9-0 run where Starling scored two layups, and Elijah Moore added a 3-pointer to finish the stretch.
Cal started slow, hitting only 1 of their first 6 shots, missing 4 of 5 from behind the arc, before Wilkinson made a jumper for the first points.
Chris Bell helped Syracuse expand its lead, hitting a jumper with 9:51 left, followed by a 3-pointer less than a minute later to make it 23-10.
Syracuse led 40-23 at halftime, with Cal shooting just 17.4 percent (4-of-23). Syracuse shot 48.4 percent (15-of-31) in the first half, including Starling’s 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining.
