It was Robert Franks Day at Beasley Coliseum.

Franks, who came into the weekend averaging close to 18 points and over two 3-pointers per contest, drilled a school record 10 3-pointers en route to a career high 34 points as Washington State registered its first Pac-12 victory over the season, a 78-53 trouncing of Cal Saturday afternoon at Beasley Coliseum.

WSU snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 9-8 overall, 1-4 in the Pac-12.

Scoring 25 of his 34 points in the second half, Franks made 11-of-17 shots, including 10-of-13 from beyond the arc. Malachi Flynn chipped in with 14 points, while Drick Bernstine fell one assist short of a double-double as he scored 10 points, dished out 9 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds in 36 minutes.

“Drick is a great weapon to have,” Ernie Kent told the Cougars IMG Sports Network afterwards. “He broke the press by himself with his size (6-8, 240). That’s hard to do. He made plays and didn’t turn I over as much as he has been (1 turnover).”

Kwinton Hinson contributed 7 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in 26 solid minutes.

“He’s probably the one I’m most proud of because he showed today what he is capable of doing,” Kent said. “He’s a good player that has struggled to learn our system and playing the competition at this level. He has hung in there.”

Franks’ record-setting 10th 3-pointer came from the right baseline with 43 seconds left when the victory had already been secured.

“Hats off to Cal for not getting upset and letting us do that (keeping Franks in the game to chase the record),” Kent said. “When a guy gets that close, you have to give him the opportunity because those things are milestones that can stand forever.”

Washington State led by five points at halftime and steadily pulled away in the second half, ultimately outscoring the Golden Bears, 48-28, over the final 20 minutes when they shot a torrid 72 percent (18-25) from the floor.

Franks' shooting performance lifted the Cougars in the second half, hitting seven 3's and sparking a 13-1 run for WSU over the course of four minutes, nailing a 3 to ignite the crowd and his teammates. The run opened up a 17-point lead in the second half for the Cougars and they never looked back.

Washington State fell behind 8-2 after five minutes before Franks jumpstarted a 13-0 Cougars run by draining his first of three 3-pointers in the first half. Skaggs had a triple during the surge as well.

WSU didn’t trail over the final 13:25 of the first half, although the score was tied twice. When Cal rallied to even the score at 17-17, Franks hit two 3-pointers within 44 seconds to five WSU a 23-19 lead.

Flynn’s 3-pointer capped the first half as the Cougars headed into intermission with a 30-25 lead.

Behind Franks, WSU shot 15-for-28 from 3-point range (and 57 percent overall) as Flynn had a pair of triples. But WSU performed well on the defensive well, limiting Cal to 31.8 shooting (21-66) and just 7 second chance points even though the Golden Bears grabbed 19 offensive rebounds.

WSU had an impressive 22 assists on 29 baskets, so they did a good job sharing the basketball.

“When we share the basketball, we can score,” Kent said. “We’re a very difficult team to guard when we do that.”

The 25-point win erased – for one day anyway - the bad vibes from WSU’s 0-4 start in league play. However, they now play five of their next seven games on the road, so jumping back into the conference race will prove demanding.

“I’m proud of our guys for the way we have hung in there,” Kent said. “We can look back at five games where we were right there to win and something happened. It has been little things.

“Today, we played extremely well on both ends of the floor. Our defense is really starting to develop. We made some adjustments (with our bigs) that are helping us now. Our defense allowed us to spread the floor on offense and play with more confidence.”

The loss for California (7-11, 1-4) was its fourth straight, punctuating an abysmal performance in the second half. The Bears were able to keep it close for most of the game, but lost control after several droughts and a huge WSU run.

Justice Sueing scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for Cal after scoring a career high 27 against UW. Juhwan Harris-Dyson added 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Don Coleman managed 10 points on 3-for-8 shooting. Coleman is the team's leading scorer averaging 18 points per game on the year.

BIG PICTURE: Washington State was able to get the first win in Pac-12 play after a record breaking performance from Franks, who had 10 3-pointers. This type of win should bring motivation to a struggling WSU team.

UP NEXT: Washington State travels to play Colorado on Thursday at 5 p.m. PT (6 p.m. local).

NEXT FIVE GAMES

Jan. 18 at Colorado, 5 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 21 at Utah, 5 p.m. (ESPNU)

Jan. 28 at Washington, 5 p.m. (ESPNU)

Jan. 31 ARIZONA, 7 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Feb. 4 ARIZONA STATE, 1 p.m. (ESPNU)

PAC-12 MEN’S BASKETBALL RESULTS/SCHEDULE (Jan. 10-14)

Wed., Jan. 10

USC 70, Colorado 58

Thu. Jan. 11

Stanford 79, Washington State 70

Arizona 62, Oregon State 53

Oregon 76, Arizona State 72

UCLA 83, Utah 64

Washington 66, California 56

Sat., Jan. 13

Arizona 90, Oregon 83

Washington State 78, California 53

Arizona State 77, Oregon State 75

Stanford 73, Washington 64

Colorado at UCLA, 7:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Sun., Jan. 14

Utah at USC, 5 p.m. (ESPNU)

(All Times Pacific)