MERCED, Calif. - Freshman Mason Westlake tallied a Bobcats season-high with 19 points in a 62-60 victory over Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (AZ) Thursday night.
The first contest of 2019 also marked the first home conference game of the season for the Bobcats, who improved to 8-6 overall and 1-1 in California Pacific Conference action.
The Bobcats win was highlighted by twelve three-point field goals, including nine coming from head coach Kevin Pham's bench.
Westlake led the three-point barrage with six triples, marking the most three-point field goals of any Bobcat player since Josh Kimble splashed six on February 16, 2017.
Westlake's career-high came while shooting a solid 66% (6-9) from downtown. Cole Taria and Matt Laflin each sunk a pair of three-point field goals, while Jonah Cottrell and Andrew Williams knocked down one a piece.
Senior Aaron Laflin was a presence inside with five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. His first blocked shot made him the program's all-time blocks leader with 59 career blocks, a standard that was held by George Idehen since 2014.
Four different Bobcats scored in the games first four minutes and a Taira three-pointer had the home team up 10-6.
The Bobcats also held a two possession lead at 18-13 and 20-16. The Bobcats biggest lead of the game came midway through the half as sophomore Alfred Batmani found the bottom of the net on an elbow jump shot to extend the advantage to 22-16.
However, seven minutes later, the Bobcats trailed 30-24. M. Laflin avoided falling behind any further with a nice finish off an assist from Raphael Durr and Taria ended the half with four straight points to cut the deficit to 32-30.
A slow second half start for the Bobcats put them down by nine points, 40-31, five minutes in.
What helped turn the game around was a pair of blocks followed by a multitude of triples. Durr notched a highlight reel chasedown block to stop a fastbreak and A. Laflin broke the all-time blocks record just over a minute later to give the Bobcats much needed energy.
Laflin's block resulted in an Andrew Williams three-point field goal at the other end of the floor, the first of seven triples for the Bobcats in the next seven minutes. Williams's make cut the deficit to 40-34, while a Matt Laflin make from downtown cut the score to 40-37.
Following Laflin's long ball, each team scored their next three times up the floor. However, each of Embry-Riddle's makes were from inside the arc, while the Bobcats were all from behind the arc to shave off points and the Bobcats trailed by just one, 46-45 with 10:26 left in the game.
Less than a minute later, Westlake tied the game at 48. The offensive standout also gave the Bobcats their next two leads, both coming on three balls to go up 54-53 and 57-55.
The 57-55 lead was a lead the Bobcats maintained the final six minutes of the game due to strong defense and quality free throw shooting with the shot clock off.
The Bobcats were up 62-60 with six seconds left and had to defend Embry-Riddle one more time to clinch their first conference win. After the Eagles advanced past the half court line, Raphael Durr met Logan Skurdal at the top of the key and notched a steal to finalize the victory.
Durr finished with three steals, three assists and three rebounds. M. Laflin accompanied Durr off the bench with 15 points.
Other notables include a team-high four assists from Ryan Haywood. Ronnie Kozak grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
Looking ahead, the Bobcats welcome Benedictine University at Mesa on Saturday, January 5, for Community Night presented by Merced Mall. Tipoff inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Recreation Center is slated for 7:30pm.
