Kansas City, MO -- (Sports Network) - Greivis Vasquez scored a game-high 27 points, as Maryland pulled away late to defeat California, 84-71, in first-round action of the NCAA Tournament's West Regional from the Sprint Center.

Dave Neal scored 15 points and Eric Hayes added 14 for the 10th-seeded Terrapins (21-13). Adrian Bowie logged 12 points and dished out seven assists in the win.

Maryland will now play Memphis, which survived a scare from Cal State- Northridge, in the second round on Saturday.

Theo Robertson had 22 points and six rebounds to pace the seventh-seeded Golden Bears (22-11), who were back in the tourney for the first time since 2006. Jerome Randle totaled 14 points and seven assists, while Patrick Christopher donated 10 points.

"Well, we didn't play as well as we're capable of," said California head coach Mike Montgomery. "This is a stage in which you have to come out and do what you're capable of doing, maybe you have to do some things better than you've done. I didn't think we really did that."

Looking to build off its strong showing in the ACC Tournament, which included wins over NC State and Wake Forest, Maryland got off to a quick start, scoring the game's first seven points, and Neal nailed a jumper to give the Terrapins an early 10-3 lead.

California, though, began to claw back and pulled to within 22-21 just past the midway point of the opening frame on Christopher's alley-oop slam.

Both teams then went cold from the floor and Hayes sank two free throws to put Maryland up 34-31 at the break.

"I thought California came out and did a really good job defensively on us," said Maryland head coach Gary Williams. "(They) took us out of a lot of things and we were struggling. We managed to maintain the lead, thanks to our defense."

Trailing 44-39, Cal used an 8-2 run to take its first lead of the game at 47-46 a little over five minutes into the second half. Robertson led the charge with six points and Jamal Boykin capped the stretch with a layup.

Another basket from Robertson made it 51-50, but Maryland rattled off nine straight points, capped by back-to-back threes from Hayes and Landon Milbourne, and the edge increased to 63-53 after Vasquez strolled in for a layup.

Hayes' layup was off the mark, but Dino Gregory was there for the putback slam, upping the margin to 74-59 with 4:55 remaining.

The Golden Bears closed the gap to 77-69 with about two minutes left on a three-point play by Jorge Gutierrez, but Vasquez sank a three-ball and followed up with another deuce to put the game out of reach.

Game Notes:

Maryland, which captured the national championship in 2002, is in the tourney after a one-year absence...Vasquez also chipped in five boards, four assists and two steals...Boykin and Gutierrez both contributed nine points and five rebounds...The Terps shot 49.2 percent (31-of-63) from the field and held a slim 36-35 advantage on the glass...Cal hit at a 42.4 percent clip (25- of-59)...This was just the second all-time meeting between these two clubs, with Maryland posting an 80-64 win back in 2006.