ROCKLIN, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team got by Westcliff University for the second time this season, 80-63 Monday afternoon in the first game of the William Jessup New Year's Classic.
The 17-point win was the third double figure win of the season and the first away from Hostetler Court since February 2, 2019. Westcliff is also the sixth different team in the Kevin Pham era that the Bobcats (8-3) have beat twice in the same campaign, fourth in the last two years.
Andrew Williams led the Bobcats with a season-high 20 points off the bench. Williams is the fifth Bobcat to reach the 20-point plateau this season and the Bobcats have now had a player come off the bench and score at least 20 in three of the last four games. Mason Westlake scored 20 on November 26 and 23 on December 6.
Westlake, Seth Cobb and Chiwike E'denchukwu joined Williams in double figures in the win and the four combined for 63 points, which was the point total for Westcliff.
Westlake finished with 17 points, 15 of them coming from beyond the arc and he has now buried at least three triples in a career-best four straight games. He has also scored in double figures in four straight games, five of the last six. He also added two rebounds and two assists in his first start since November 4.
Cobb added four makes (4-6) from beyond the arc and tied his career-high with 14 total points. With Cobb's solid shooting performance, the junior joins teammate Jonah Cottrell as two of five players in the California Pacific Conference with a three-point shooting percentage of .400 or higher.
Playing a team-high 31 minutes, E'denchukwu neared his first double-double of the season with 12 points and nine rebounds. Jonah Cottrell and Ryan Haywood dished out five assists each and pitched in seven and six points, respectively. Cottrell's five assists is a career-high and he doubled his total assists number on the year.
Kingsley Obiorah pitched in defensively and blocked the Warriors Jacob Knox on the game's opening possession. Knox would go on to finish with a game-high 25 points.
After a scoreless minute and 48 seconds, Westlake was the first on the board with a make from downtown and a second three-point field goal roughly 90 seconds later had the Bobcats up 8-4.
Westcliff countered with a 12-0 run to double up the Bobcats at 16-8 with 12:37 on the clock. Williams snapped the Bobcats four-and-a-half-minute scoring drought with a bucket inside and helped put his team up 17-16 at the midway point of the half.
Tied 20-20 with under nine to go, Cottrell pickpocketed Damien King before sending a dime ahead to Williams for a score inside. The fastbreak bucket sparked a 10-0 run that saw four different Bobcats put the ball through the bottom of the net, including a Cottrell triple to take a 30-20 lead.
A Westlake triple with 3:50 to go in the half put the Bobcats up 33-22 and the double figure lead grew to 14 points at intermission, 42-28. The sizeable advantage was the Bobcats biggest halftime lead since February 2, 2019.
Westcliff opened the second half with four straight points, but the Bobcats were able to keep the double figure advantage as Cottrell buried a couple free throws immediately after.
E'denchukwu dominated after that, scoring the Bobcats next ten points and assisted a Westlake triple to put UC Merced up by a then game-high 17 points at 57-40 with 15:04 to go.
However, an offensive drought like the one in first half followed and the Bobcats were held without a bucket for the next five minutes and ten seconds. A positive, the double figure lead held throughout the drought and Williams buried a three-point field goal to go up 60-47.
The lead shrunk to eight at worst, 60-52 with 8:10 remaining. A minute later, Williams drew a foul on a three-point attempt and buried all three free throws. Cobb hit a shot from downtown on the next possession to put the Bobcats up 66-52.
The Bobcats led by at least ten points for the roughly the final five minutes and 15 points for the last three minutes and 23 seconds. A Williams triple with 100 seconds left gave the Bobcats their biggest lead of the night at 79-59.
Overall, the Bobcats shot 44% (27-61) from the floor, 37% (12-32) from distance and 87% (14-16) from the charity stripe. The Bobcats limited Westcliff to 12% (1-8) from downtown but the Warriors did manage to shoot 49% (28-57) from the field overall.
Other notables include 17 Bobcat assists (1 shy of season-high), eleven points off turnovers and offensive rebounds from five different players. Cottrell and Williams had two each. The Bobcats have won 12 straight games when recording at least 15 assists.
Up next, the Bobcats close out the decade with William Jessup University on Tuesday, December 31 inside Warrior Arena. The jump is scheduled for 4:00pm.
