By Morris Phillips

Darius McNeill continues to impress for the youthful Cal Bears.

After a scoreless first half the freshman from Houston got it cooking, finishing with a team-best 20 points in Cal’s comfortable 81-59 win over Seattle.

In his first 12 games, McNeill has made a seamless transition to college basketball by averaging 13.7 points a game while shooting 52 percent from the field, 72 percent from the foul stripe, and 48 percent from three. McNeill has at least one made three in every game he’s played.

And McNeill is not alone.  Freshman Justice Sueing has started 11 games and is shooting 49 percent from the field, and 38 percent from three.  Sueing had 17 on Tuesday, playing 36 minutes, his longest floor time stint thus far. And Juhwan Harris-Dyson played 21 minutes off the bench, scoring six, grabbing six boards.

“We’re young, but the guys are picking up what we’re telling them to do,” coach Wyking Jones said. “They’re giving us great effort. It’s just a learning process for these young guys. Now, we’ve got two road wins, we got an overtime win in the last game, so they’re maturing. They’re maturing at a fast rate right now.”

What’s more telling is the young and old Bears alike didn’t forsake their defensive effort, holding Seattle to 33 percent shooting, one game after the Redhawks buried 16 3-pointers against Portland.  Seattle faced adversity early, going more than 4 1/2 minutes scoreless to start the game.

Matej Kavas led Seattle with 20 points, and Richaud Gittens added 11.

“For whatever reason, I think our guys thought tonight was going to be a little easier than it was,” Seattle coach Jim Hayford said. “In the first half, we really struggled offensively, but we were tough enough to stay in there. Then we kind of hit a point where our shots weren’t falling, and then we let our guard down and then the game got away from us.”

Cal led by six at the half, and streteched that lead to 20 with 6:15 remaining.  The Bears conclude non-conference play on Thursday at home against Portland State.