Junior guard Dai Dai Ames, who transferred after starting at Virginia last season, poured in 23 points and made a handful of key baskets in crunch time to lead the Golden Bears to a 77-67 win Thursday.
Fifth-year forward John Camden, a former all-conference forward for Delaware, chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds.
Two other transfers, Justin Pippen (Michigan) and Chris Bell (Syracuse), had 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the ACC team.
Trailing by 16 at 8:53 of the second half after Ames’ 3, the Raiders cut the margin to 69-65 on a trey by freshman point guard Michael Cooper with 2:44 to go.
Ames matched that with another 3, but then Dominic Pangonis, a sophomore transfer from Stephen F. Austin, threw down a dunk to make it 72-67 at 1:48.
Credit: Bryant Billing
The Raiders, though, didn’t score again.
“I’m frustrated with the result,” coach Clint Sargent said on his post-game radio show. “I thought it was a great opportunity to come in here and play disciplined basketball. We fouled way too much.
“The physicality of the game — I thought (Cal) really steered it. I’m proud of how our guys responded. I don’t question the spirit of our team. I don’t question the connection of our team. It’s just that nerve to put together a full 40 (minutes). We’re going to learn from this.”
Cooper scored the Raiders’ first five points and led the team with 17 on 7-of-13 shooting. He also had four rebounds, four assists and just two turnovers in 32 minutes.
Michael Imariagbe, the team’s leading scorer in the opener against Franklin with 13 points, picked up two quick fouls and played only four minutes without scoring in the first half.
The fifth-year forward finished with 10 points and four rebounds but fouled out and played just 20 minutes.
Pangonis had 11 points off the bench.
Solomon Callaghan, who missed the opener with a thumb injury, had eight points in 23 minutes but made just 2 of 8 shots.
The Raiders (1-1) shot 24 of 64 (37.5%) overall and 9 of 34 on 3’s (26.5%). They were 10 of 18 on free throws.
The Bears (2-0) heated up in the second half, going 13 of 25 (52%) from the floor and 4 of 11 on 3’s. They made only 10 of 30 shots in the first half, going 1 of 10 on 3’s.
They made 26 of 31 free throws.
Sargent said an issue was “offensively finding our rhythm. We’re playing more guys (10 saw action). With Mike in foul trouble, we shot so many 3’s in the first half. And when you don’t make them, they get in transition, and it’s hard to play at that (fast) pace.
“Offensively, I think we’ll find it. But we’ve got to keep plugging away at the defense and our discipline.”
NEXT GAME
Who: Toledo at Wright State
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 1410-AM, 101.5-FM
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