BERKELEY, Calif. -- Freshman Charlie Moore saved 25th-ranked California on Wednesday.

The Bears overcame the absence of three injured starters and a 13-point, second-half deficit to record a 75-65 overtime victory over UC Irvine, which was missing a key player as well.

Moore scored 38 points, a Cal freshman record, bettering the mark of 33 set by Shareef Abdur-Rahim in November 1995. Moore, who scored 27 of his points after halftime, made 10 of 20 field-goal attempts, including 3 of 7 3-point attempts, and 15 of 17 free throws.

The rest of the team was 9 of 32 from the field and had 37 points.

It was quite a bit different from Moore's college debut five days earlier, when the Chicago product went 1 of 8 from the field and scored six points against South Dakota State.

"I just think I was more comfortable on the court," Moore said. "My teammate were saying to stay aggressive and don't worry about the misses."

Cal (2-0) played without injured preseason All-American Ivan Rabb as well as Jabari Bird and Grant Mullins. The Anteaters (1-2) were without injured Luke Nelson, their only returning starter from last season and a first-team all-Big West selection a season ago.

"This was probably one of the better wins of my coaching career," Cal coach Cuonzo Martin said.

Jaron Martin led the Anteaters with a career-high 26 points, 19 of them came after halftime as he countered nearly every Cal surge.

"Jaron did what I expected," UC Irvine coach Russell Turner said. "He had a great game and was overshadowed by their freshman point guard."

The Bears had a stretch of 10:27 spanning the end of the first half and the start of the second in which they failed to make a field goal. That helped the Anteaters take a 13-point lead in the first minute of the second half as Jaron Martin scored the first five points of the half.

Moore kept the Bears in the game, but the Anteaters still held a seven-point lead with 3:05 left in regulation. Moore then scored five straight points on a variety of moves to get the Bears within 62-60 with 1:53 left.

"We fed the hot hand," Cal center Kameron Rooks said. "Just made sure to give him the ball and set screens."

Cuonzo Martin said, "We thought we had a major advantage with Charlie on a ball screen. He's very shifty. He shoots one-legged, off-balance, he does it all the time. And his teammates, they allowed him to lead as a freshman."

Cal eventually tied the game on a Rooks tip-in with 23 seconds left in regulation, sending the game to overtime.

Rooks finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, and his basket to open overtime gave Cal its first lead since early in the first half. Stephen Domingo's 3-pointer with 3:10 left gave the Bears a 67-64 advantage that they never relinquished.

Moore finished off the Cal surge by sinking all six of his free throws in the final 2:28.

"He's not fazed by the atmosphere," Cuonzo Martin said.

Moore said his hometown experience helped him remain calm when the score got close.

"I was playing in the heat of the moment all the time in Chicago," he said.

Cal won despite shooting 26.1 percent in the first half and 36.5 percent for the game. However, UC Irvine did not make a single field goal in the overtime, when it scored just three points. The Anteaters hit 44.4 percent of their field-goal attempts.

"We had a chance to win," Turner said. "If we had made one more play, one more rebound, one less foul to give them a chance to shoot free throws. We came close, but you don't get anything for that."

NOTES: Three Cal starters sat out Wednesday's game with injuries. F Ivan Rabb missed his second consecutive game due to a sprained toe sustained three weeks ago. G Grant Mullins, a graduate transfer from Columbia who scored 13 points in the Bears' opening win over South Dakota State, was out with a neck injury, and G Jabari Bird, the team's top returning scorer, was sidelined with a back injury. All three are listed as day-to-day and should return soon. Cal coach Cuonzo Martin believes all three may be ready to play Monday's game in Sacramento against San Diego State... UC Irvine G Luke Nelson, a first-team all-conference selection last season, missed his third straight game with a hamstring injury.