VALLEJO, Calif - The University of California, Merced men's basketball team broke the program's single-season wins record for the third consecutive season and clinched a postseason berth for the second time in the last three years with a 75-72 win over Cal Maritime on Saturday night inside the Physical Education Center.
The Bobcats (16-8, 8-4) win also ties the longest winning streak of the season at four games and head coach Kevin Pham's team improves to 6-1 against the Keelhaulers since the start of the 2017-18 season.
The Bobcats also improved to 4-0 in one possession games this year and it was Justin Nguyen to hit the game-winning shot.
Tied at 72 with 10 seconds left, Nguyen inbounded the ball to Haywood and the senior hung around the timeline for a few ticks. With six seconds left, Haywood penetrated and attracted three defenders down the center of the lane. He had two Bobcats open beyond the arc and found Nguyen on the left wing. Nguyen connected on the triple, his sixth in the last four games, and the Bobcats led 75-72 with two seconds left.
Cal Maritime's halfcourt heave bounced off the iron and the Bobcats won in a place where only one other team had all season.
Raphael Durr led the Bobcats with a career-high 21 points in the win and became the third Bobcat this year to score more than 20. The senior did so while shooting 80% (8-10) from the floor, 75% (3-4) from downtown and 100% (2-2) from the foul line. Durr also had two steals and a block for the second straight game. Durr's previous career-high was 20 points and that was in the same gym against University of Saint Katherine in the season opener.
The only other Cal Pac player this year to go for 20 on the road against Cal Maritime is the conference's leading scorer in Ronnie Rousseau III. Durr is one of just four players to do so in the last two years.
Jonah Cottrell was good for 18 points, ten in the second half, and was 64% (7-11) from the floor. He got the Bobcats on the board first with a triple and has now hit one in a career-best ten straight games.
Ryan Haywood stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, a team-high eight rebounds and led all players with five assists and three steals. It marked his seventh game this season dishing out five assists while scoring in double figures. He has done it twice against Cal Maritime and in three conference games overall. On track to become the second 1,000 point scorer in program history, Haywood has grabbed at least eight rebounds in two straight road games after having not done so the entire 2019-20 road slate. Haywood is now tied with Ryan Edwards for third all-time on the program's rebounding charts. Haywood and Edwards both have 418 career rebounds.
Chiwike E'denchukwu was good for eight points and two assists, while Kingsley Obiorah pitched in seven points and seven rebounds. Obiorah also blocked the Cal Pac's No. 2 scorer in Zavier Lucero.
As a team, the Bobcats shot 45% (28-62) from the floor, 45% (10-22) from downtown and 81% (9-11) from the charity stripe.
The Bobcats first two buckets were triples, one each from Durr and Cottrell, and the score was 6-6 less than four minutes in. It was tied again at 8-8, 11-11 and 18-18.
With 8:53 left to go in the half, Haywood put the Bobcats up as he went isolation and created enough space against Lucero to knock down an elbow jumper. Haywood then buried a three-point field goal over Lucero on the next possession to give the Bobcats a 23-18 lead. The lead grew to six at 27-21 with 6:22 to play.
The two teams traded buckets the rest of the half and the Bobcats carried a 41-35 lead into the dressing rooms.
It was the Bobcats highest scoring first half in a true road game since scoring 44 against Embry-Riddle on February 2, 2019.
The Bobcats kept the pace up after the break and opened the second half on an 8-3 run to go up by double figures for the first time at 49-38. Cottrell highlighted the stretch with a rare four-point play.
The lead was cut to 49-43 soon after but the Bobcats built it back to 54-43 with 12:51 remaining. Up 56-45, Cal Maritime's Evan Madill hit back-to-back triples and the home team was within five points midway through the half.
UC Merced's lead was at least five until the final 90 seconds. The lead even grew to a game-high 12 points at 72-60 with 4:56 to play. Durr was a big reason for that as he scored a quick six points and recorded a steal.
However, Durr's steal and score that got the Bobcats to 72 was the teams final score until the game-winning shot. The Bobcats came up empty on six straight possessions, while Cal Maritime scored on six of their next eight possessions to tie the game 72-72 with ten seconds left. Lucero was responsible for five of the Keelhaulers 12 points during the 12-0 run.
Pham had a timeout and enough time left though to design some action and Nguyen ended the night with his triple, 75-72.
The Bobcats last two wins at Cal Maritime have come via a go-ahead shot with a few seconds remaining. The big go-ahead shot last time the Bobcats beat Cal Maritime on the road came from E'denchukwu in the 2018 California Pacific Conference Championships Semifinal game.
Other notables from the Bobcats most recent win include scoring 17 points off 11 Cal Maritime turnovers and allowing just six different Keelhaulers to score.
Looking ahead, the Bobcats visit the conference's two-time regular season champion and 17th ranked University of Antelope Valley Pioneers on Thursday, February 20 in Lancaster, Calif. Tip-off from the Pioneer Event Center is scheduled for 7:30pm.
