LANCASTER, Calif. - The University of California, Merced men's basketball team came within a possession late in the game but fell short in its attempt to take down the 12th-ranked University of Antelope Valley Pioneers, 74-70 on Thursday night inside the Pioneer Event Center.
The Bobcats (16-9, 8-4) are the only team to lose by four points or less to UAV at the PEC all season. UAV is now 12-0 at home this year and have won 16 straight California Pacific Conference games dating back to 2018-19. UAV has an average scoring margin of +22 during the streak.
Head coach Kevin Pham's team almost dethroned the two-time defending Cal Pac champs by shooting 51% (25-49) from the floor and a program-best 69.2% (9-13) from beyond the arc. The stellar three-point percentage is the fifth highest in the NAIA this year and the Bobcats join just Eastern Oregon as the only other team west of the Mississippi in the last two years to shoot over 69% from downtown.
Jonah Cottrell shared game-high with 20 points and was 67% (4-6) from downtown. All four of his triples came without a miss in the second half and he became just the third player in program history to bury 50 or more three-pointers in a single-season. Cottrell joins Matt Laflin and Mason Westlake. More notable, Cottrell's 20 points against the 12th ranked opponent makes him the first Bobcat since Aki Chambers on November 2, 2012 to go for 20 or more against a Top 15 team. Cottrell is also the only Bobcat in program history with multiple 20 point games against Top 25 teams. Thursday night also marked Cottrell's fifth 20-point game of the season, fourth in the last seven games. Only the conference's leading scorer, Ronnie Rousseau III of UAV, has more 20-point games in the same span.
Cottrell also tied his season-high with three steals and has hit that tally in two of the last three games. He now holds sole possession of eighth place on the program's all-time steals charts with 65 career steals. Cottrell is now looking to catch George Idehen who is seventh all-time with 78.
Kingsley Obiorah tied his Cal Pac career-high with 12 points and missed just one shot all night for an 86% (6-7) shooting mark. The sophomore shared game-high with two blocks and was second on the team in rebounding as he grabbed four, two offensive. Obiorah has now blocked a shot in eight straight games which is tied with Idehen (2013-14) and Aaron Laflin (2016-17) for the longest streak in program history.
After missing the first game against UAV due to an injury, Raphael Durr was good for eleven points and shared team-high with four assists. Durr was 50% (4-8) from the floor overall, 100% (2-2) from downtown. The senior has combined for five triples in the last two games after combining for just five in the previous 12 games. Durr has also scored double figures in back-to-back games for the first time since November. Durr added a steal and a block to his Thursday night resume.
Ryan Haywood stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, a team-high six rebounds and shared team-high with four assists. Haywood is now a single-point away from becoming the second player in program history with 1,000 career points and he has the chance at it while playing just 23 miles from where he went to high school (Diamond Ranch). Haywood would join Aki Chambers in the 1,000 point club. The all-around player has three straight games with 5+ rebounds which is the longest active streak on the team and ties his longest streak of the season. Haywood officially holds sole possession of the third spot on the program's all-time rebounding list. He has passed up five players this year on the charts.
Andrew Williams and Seth Cobb were each good for a triple off the bench.
A Haywood triple got the Bobcats on the board first and it ended up being one of just two leads the vBobcats held all night. The other lead was 5-4 after Obiorah muscled his way into a basket down low.
After that, the Bobcats were on the wrong side of a 9-2 run and trailed 13-7 less than eight minutes in. The deficit grew to nine points at 20-11 with 8:22 to go and to 25-15 with 4:52 left in the first half. The Bobcats biggest deficit of the half was 26-15 after Rousseau III hit a technical free throw.
Cottrell and Chiwike E'denchukwu earned a trip to the charity stripe soon after and made their shots to get the Bobcats within seven at 28-21. An 8-4 UC Merced run highlighted by Durr and Cobb triples got the Bobcats within four with the shot clock off.
However, the Pioneers Kamal Holden beat the buzzer with a triple of his own and the Bobcats trailed 36-29 at intermission. It was the Bobcats first halftime deficit since February 1 and just the second in the last ten games.
Out of the break, the margin was between seven and ten points for the first five minutes as neither team was able to score consecutive buckets.
With 14:02 left though, the Bobcats found themselves down by 12 at 47-35 and then again at 49-37. Then the Bobcats got hot and back-to-back three-pointers from Durr and Cottrell cut the deficit in half, 49-43 with 11:18 to go.
Justin Nguyen helped narrow it to four points at 55-51 a few minutes later.
Trailing 60-53 with 4:50 to go, Haywood found Cottrell for an open shot beyond the arc and then Cottrell notched a steal and E'denchukwu finished the play to make it 60-58 with 3:21 showing on the clock. E'denchukwu's score marked the first time the Bobcats were within a possession since the 14:11 mark of the first half.
A triple each from UAV's Jordan Mast and the Bobcats Cottrell killed a minute of clock time and it was 63-61 UAV with under two minutes remaining.
However, Rousseau III scored four straight to put the home team up six points and despite knocking down two more triples, the Bobcats never got within a possession the rest of the way.
UAV made it tough on the Bobcats as they hit 88% (7-8) of their foul shots in the final minute.
The Bobcats fall to 2-6 on the road this year and are now 0-4 against Top 25 opponents. Three of the four losses have come away from Hostetler Court.
Rousseau III poured in 20 points for UAV and has gone for at least 20 in five straight games and 16 of the last 19.
Other notables include each team committing 12 turnovers and limiting each other to less than six second chance points. The Bobcats grabbed just three offensive rebounds and have lost five straight games when grabbing less than five.
The Bobcats limited UAV to just 26% (8-31) from beyond the arc and the Pioneers 74 points is their fewest in a Cal Pac game this year.
Up next, UC Merced visits La Sierra University for the regular season finale on Saturday, February 22. Tip-off from Alumni Pavilion in Riverside, Calif., is scheduled for 8:30pm.
