BearTalk

FINAL SCORE: Cal 75, Murray State 70. The Bears hold on to win their season opener. Randle had 18 points, Robertson 14, Christopher 13 and Boykin 12. More later.

3:11 2nd H: The Racers are trying to make this interesting. They’ve gone 7-0 to get within 66-59, but Boykin is going to the FT line for two shots. He made both, so the lead is nine points.

5:12 2nd H: The Bears are up 66-52 and seemingly have control, despite scoring just four points their past six possessions. Randle and Robertson each have 14 points and Christopher has 13.

11:54 2nd H: Cal’s lead reached 54-36 after a fastbreak layup by Randle with 12:37 left, and it’s now 54-39. Gutierrez has made a big difference on defense, helping to slow down Danero Thomas, the Racers’ top offensive threat. Randle has 14 points, Robertson 11 and Christopher 10.

15:55 2nd H: Cal has hiked the lead to 45-31 with a quick 9-0 burst. Christopher hit a 3-pointer, then Robertson bailed out the offense with one of his own as the shot clock ran down. Then Gutierrez picked the ball from Danero Thomas and passed ahead to Christopher for a layup and free throw.

HALFTIME: Cal leads 34-26, but this is far from over. The Bears are out of sync, especially Randle, who has 10 points — including 8-for-9 from the FT line — but has not played well. Forcing too much. Robertson has eight points. Cal is shooting just 40 percent from the field, including 1-for-4 from 3-PT. MSU is at 45.5 percent, just 2-for-7 from beyond the arc. You won’t hear from me as often in the second half — deadline looms for our print edition on this late start. Will try to keep you posted, then file more later.

4:07 1st H: The Bears have extended their lead to 28-21, thanks in part to 11 MSU turnovers. Max Zhang is in the game, with Sanders-Frison on the bench with two fouls. Randle has scored four points at the FT line, but he’s 0-for-5 from the field. Murray State is shooting 53 percent, Cal just 41 percent.

7:59 1st H: Cal leads 22-18 despite a brutal charge call on Theo Robertson just before the timeout. Brandon Smith played well in his time subbing for Randle, including a nice drive to the hoop. Randle and Christopher are back in the game. Robertson leads Cal with eight points, Boykin has six. Ivan Aska has nine for the Racers.

11:49 !st H: It’s 16-all and Cal has a battle on its hands. First of all, Murray State now knows it belongs in this game, so the Racers will be here for the long haul. Secondly, neither Randle nor Christopher has made an impact so far — both are scoreless — to the Bears are struggling to put points up. Mike Montgomery took Randle out with 12:27 left to settle him down, sending freshman Brandon Smith into the game. And Jorge Gutierrez already has picked up two fouls, and he’s back on the bench. D.J. Seeley is on the floor.

THIS SCORE JUST IN: Syracuse just polished off Albany 75-43. The Orange will be Cal’s MSG opponent a week from Thursday.

14:49 1st H: Cal leads 10-8 at the first media timeout. Bears are shooting 4-for-8. Robertson has six points, Boykin has the other four. Sanders-Frison has three rebounds and drew a reaction when he dived to the floor after a loose ball. Cal is 0-for-2 from 3-PT.

IN THE HOUSE: Among those in the crowd at Haas Pavilion tonight is former Cal star, NBA standout and 2000 Olympian Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Shareef played at Cal in 1995-96 when Murray State coach Billy Kennedy was an assistant here, and his younger brother Amir Abdur-Rahim is on Kennedy’s staff. Also on hand are former Cal coach Dick Kuchen and ex-players Anwar McQueen and Jon Wheeler.

KAMP OUT: Junior forward Harper Kamp (knee) is in street clothes, as expected, and told me before the game he won’t play Wednesday against Detroit, either. He said the plan is he will try to play a week from Thursday at Madison Square Garden against Syracuse, but he admitted his knee is coming around more slowly than he’d like and it’s not certain he’ll be ready for NYC.

STARTING LINEUPS: Cal will go with Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson, Jamal Boykin and Markhuri Sanders-Frison. Murray State is starting Isaac Miles, B.J. Jenkins, Danero Thomas, Ivan Aska and Tony Easley.

OPENING NIGHT: Yes, it’s here. Cal’s earliest season-opening game ever. If you’re near a TV, the game is on ESPNU, starting at 8 p.m. We’ll have the starting lineups in a few minutes.

C VS. C SCORES: Elsewhere in the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament, Ohio State routed Alcorn State 100-60, North Carolina spoiled coach Isiah Thomas’s debut with an 88-72 win over Florida International and Syracuse leads Albany 67-38 with 5 minutes left.