SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - The University of California, Merced men's basketball team scored on eight of their first ten possessions to gain an early advantage and held off Dominican University of California, 56-55, Saturday afternoon to earn their first ever win against an NCAA Division II opponent.
The game was a tale of two halves as the Bobcats (5-2) limited the Penguins to just 22% shooting in the first half and outscored the opponent 32-18. Sophomore Jonah Cottrell led the first half scoring efforts with 16 points on a perfect 100% (7-7) from the floor. Defensively, the Bobcats allowed Dominican to score just five points in the first ten minutes. The 18 total points in the first half marked the fewest Dominican had scored in any half since December 16, 2017.
However in the second half, Dominican opened up on a 20-5 run to take a 38-37 lead with nine minutes remaining. The game remained within one possession for all but 41 seconds in the final nine minutes.
The two-possession lead came via a Mason Westlake triple with 5:41 on the clock. Three minutes later, trailing 53-51, Westlake buried another key three-point field goal to retake the lead that would end up holding the rest of the game.
Westlake's make from downtown came after an offensive rebound from freshman Kinglsey Oboralt. Oboralt also recorded the assist on the game-changing triple.
The Bobcats followed with a four straight defensive stops and junior Cole Taira expanded the lead to 56-53 with two much needed free-throws with 24 seconds left.
The Penguins comeback effort came within a point at 56-55 with a pair of free throws of their own.
Overall, the Bobcats outshot Dominican 34% (20-58) to 32% (18-56) and scored 13 points off of ten Dominican turnovers. The Bobcats also got solid play off the bench with 15 points. Eight of the Bobcats 15 bench points came in the final six minutes of the game.
Cottrell finished with a career-high 18 points. Aside from the sophomore, Andrew Williams finished in double figures with ten points. Senior Aaron Laflin chipped in five points, a team-high seven rebounds and a team-high two steals. Laflin's seven rebounds puts him over the 500 career rebounds mark, the second player in program history to accomplish that feat. Laflin joins George Idehen (2011-14) and the senior is 67 rebounds away from breaking the record.
Other notables include holding Dominican 18 points under their season average. The Bobcats have now held three of their last four opponents at least 15 points under their season average.
Up next, the Bobcats host Bethesda University of California on Wednesday, November 28. Tipoff on Hostetler Court is at 7:30pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
