BERKELEY, CA – The Wright State men's basketball team pulled within five points with 1:47 to play on Thursday night, but host California closed the night at the free throw line for a 77-67 victory over the Raiders on the West Coast.
 
Wright State (1-1) now treks home to return to the Nutter Center on Tuesday night as the Raiders will host Toledo in a 7 p.m. tipoff. Fans can follow the action several ways – on ESPN+, via live stats or by tuning in to the Wright State Radio Network - 101.5 FM 'The Fridge' and WING 1410 AM. Chris Collins and Jim Brown will have all the play-by-play action on the radio and television feeds.
 
Thursday night, the Raiders found themselves down by as many as 16 with nine minutes to play before chipping away against Cal (2-0) to get the margin to four after a Michael Cooper jumper with 2:44 remaining. After a Cal three-pointer, Wright State found Dominic Pangonis on a backdoor cut for a dunk to make it a five-point game at 72-67 with 1:47 remaining. Cal connected on 5-of-6 free throws in the closing moments as the Raiders never got any closer, missing their final three shots and adding a turnover in the closing moments.
 
Michael Cooper paced the Raiders with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, adding four rebounds and four assists, while Dominic Pangonis had 11 points and Michael Imariagbe added 10 points – all in the second half – while grabbing four boards. Bryan Etumnu tallied five of his eight points in the first 20 minutes as he finished with six rebounds and Solomon Callaghan added eight points of his own for Wright State.
 
Wright State finished the night shooting 37.5 percent overall (24-of-64) while hitting just 9-of-34 (26.5 percent) of its three-point attempts and going 55.6 percent (10-of-18) at the free throw stripe. Cal ended the win with a 41.8 percent overall shooting mark (23-of-55) while hitting four of its five three-pointers (5-of-11, 23.8 percent) in the second half and going 26-of-31 (83.9 percent) at the free throw line.
 
Cal grabbed a 43-35 rebound edge while the Raiders notched six steals to the hosts' three, using that for 14 points off turnovers, and saw a 17-8 bench scoring advantage.
 
Dai Dai Ames turned in a game-high 23 points to lead four Cal players in double figures, with Justin Pippen adding 14 points and nine rebounds as John Camden and Chris Bell each finished with 12 points in the win.