By Morris Phillips

Cal’s basketball roster isn’t blessed with superior size or experience with no one over 6’8″ starting, and junior transfer Paris Austin and Roman Davis the only players with more than a year at the Division I level.

Given that, it isn’t a surprise that the Bears aren’t very good defensively, at least not yet.

Temple took advantage on Tuesday, racing past Cal, 76-59 to capture third place in the Legends Classic. The Owls shot a sizzling 54 percent from the field, one night after St. John’s shot 55 percent against the Bears.

Temple scored 19 of the game’s initial 24 points to build a double-digit lead, only to see Cal respond, and trail by four, 32-28, at the break. But the Owls ran away for good with a 10-0 run midway through the second half that finished Cal.

“I thought we did some really good things tonight, not perfect, but some good things,” said Temple coach Fran Dunphy.

Not surprisingly, the Owls relied heavily on their one-two punch of Quinton Rose and Shizz Alston. The pair scored exactly half of Temple’s 76 points while taking 33 of their 57 shot attempts. Alston also played the role of the Owls’ chief distributor with 10 assists.

“Alston did a good job distributing the ball,” Cal coach Wyking Jones said. “Rose and Alston are both very good players.”

The Bears fell to 1-3 on the season, and they won’t return to the hardwood until Monday when they face Santa Clara at Haas Pavilion.

Darius McNeill led the Bears with 12 points, and three other starters scored 10 each. But leading scorer Justice Sueing missed seven of his eight shot attempts and finished with four points.

The Bears trailed for the game’s final 39 minutes, and they were outrebounded 34-27.

The Bears return home to host the Santa Clara Broncos on Monday, November 26 at 6:00 pm PT.