BERKELEY -- The California men's basketball team picked up the pace in the second half and stayed out ahead of visiting Wright State to claim the Golden Bears' second win of 2025-26 on a 77-67 victory over the Raiders tonight at Haas Pavilion. It was a four-point game in the final three minutes of action before Cal extended its advantage with some stingy defense down the stretch. Once again, Cal had four players hit double digits, led by
Dai Dai Ames' game-high 23 points on the night. Cal is now 2-0 overall, and Wright State goes to 1-1.
Cal made up for 3-point struggles in the first half by getting to the free-throw line to the tune of a 13-of-16 effort from the stripe to help the Bears lead things 34-28 at halftime. Cal was shooting 33.3 percent overall, trailing Wright State's 35.7 percent showing, and the Bears led on the boards 24-16. The Raiders hit four first-half 3-pointers to just one three made by Cal in those first 20 minutes of play. The Bears improved from beyond the arc in the next stretch, although so did Wright State. Overall, however, Cal upped its offensive production and finished out the game shooting 41.8 percent while the Raiders wrapped at 37.5 percent. Cal outrebounded its visitors 43-35 and went 26-of-31 from the free-throw line with four 3-pointers made. Wright State was 10-of-18 from the stripe and hit nine threes.
Cal was paced by
Dai Dai Ames' 23 points, with
Justin Pippen adding 14 points and nine rebounds along with four assists.
Chris Bell and
John Camden also hit double figures with 12 points apiece, while Camden hauled in nine rebounds. Pippen (8-for-8) and Bell (6-for-6) were both perfect from the free-throw line. Wright State received a team-high 17 points from Michael Cooper along with 11 from Dominic Pangonis and 10 from Michael Imariagbe.
The Bears started out slowly on the offensive end, falling behind 7-2 in the first five minutes before finding its scoring touch.
Justin Pippen's three-point play carved down the deficit and then a Pippen feed to
Rytis Petraitis put the home team on top.
John Camden broke the Bears' silence from beyond the arc with a 3-pointer to tally an 11-8 lead at 12:25 to give Cal a lift. A three-point play from
Dai Dai Ames built a 16-10 advantage for Cal, but Wright State bit back with back-to-back buckets to get it to a one-point margin with 8:08 on the clock. More work from Ames helped fend off the Raiders, as he had success at the stripe and also sailed in a picture-perfect floater to net a 26-23 Cal lead with 3:35 left in the first half. Camden then made good on consecutive trips to the line to craft a 30-23 lead entering the two-minute mark. The final minute saw only free throws fall, and the Bears gripped a 34-28 lead at halftime.
Ames and Camden both worked their ways into double digits on the night with 3-pointers landed in the first four minutes of the second half. A bucket from
Chris Bell helped things along as well, and Cal got out to a 44-32 lead with 16:45 on the clock. Bell, Pippen and
Rytis Petraitis combined forces on the offensive end in a 9-2 Cal rally to its largest lead of the game, up 55-40 with 11:40 to go. Bell was into double figures for the first time as a Bear with his four-point contribution to that surge. Ames buried his second 3-pointer of the night for a 60-44 Cal lead at 8:50, and after the Raiders carved in with a 6-0 push, Ames' three-point play at 5:59 got him to 20 points and built a 65-53 advantage for the Bears. The margin dwindled to four points with 2:40 on the clock before Ames buried a big 3-pointer 20 seconds later. Wright State scored with 1:47 remaining, only to see Cal hold it down from the stripe and turn away the Raiders the rest of the way to tack up a 77-67 final win.
NEXT:Â Cal turns to another busy week of early-season action, hosting Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m. on Monday (Nov. 10) at Haas Pavilion before hitting the road to Manhattan, Kansas, for a road clash at Kansas State at 8 p.m. CT on Thursday (Nov. 13).Â
NOTABLE:
-
Dai Dai Ames (23 points),
Justin Pippen (14 points) and
John Camden (12 points) each scored in double digits for the second straight game.
- With 12 points,
Chris Bell scored in double figures for the first time as a Golden Bear.
- With nine rebounds and two steals tonight,
Justin Pippen set new career highs.
- Pippen also made a career-high eight free throws (8-for-8).
- This was Cal's second straight game of the season with four players scoring in double figures.
- Cal HS
Mark Madsen now has 99 career wins -- one away from his 100th as a head coach.
- This was the first-ever meeting between Cal and Wright State.
