RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Eleven different Bobcats scored in the regular season finale and the University of California, Merced men's basketball team dominated defensively to sweep the season series with La Sierra University with a 58-44 win on Saturday night inside Alumni Pavilion.
The Bobcats (17-9, 9-5) finish the conference slate four games over .500 for the first time since 2012-13 and are one of just three Cal Pac teams in the last three years to tally nine conference wins.
Overall, the Bobcats 17th win makes them the only Cal Pac team to increase their win total by at least two wins in each of the last four seasons. The Bobcats went from eight wins in 2016-17 and have earned 13, 15 and 17 wins in the following years. The 17-9 record is also the Bobcats best ever overall record.
The program-best 17th win came due to a suffocating defensive effort in which the Bobcats forced 21 turnovers and held La Sierra to just 44 points on 30% (12-40) shooting. The 44 points allowed ties the program record but is the least amount of points any Cal Pac team has given up in a conference road game since February 2, 2017.
Saturday night marked the third time this season in which the Bobcats held a team under 50 points and they became the first conference team to do that since Cal Maritime accomplished the feat in 2011-12. Two of the three games this year have been on the road, something that no other team has done in the history of the California Pacific Conference.
The Bobcats finish the regular season ranked second in the NAIA DII allowing just 64.93 points per game, but are number one in the country allowing just 61.61 points per game in conference play.
Head coach Kevin Pham's team held La Sierra without a bucket for three different three minute stretches, the longest being an eight minute and ten second stretch to start the second half. The Bobcats didn't allow a La Sierra second half field goal until the 10:09 mark.
Offensively, five Bobcats scored at least seven points. Ryan Haywood was one of those and his three-pointer less than seven minutes into the game put him over 1,000 career points. Haywood joins Aki Chambers as the only other 1,000 point scorer in program history and is now the only player in program history with 1,000+ points and 300+ assists. He heads into the postseason 91 points away from Chamber's all-time scoring record of 1,097 points.
Haywood got to join the 1,000 point club 24 miles from where he prepped at Diamond Ranch High School.
Raphael Durr led the Bobcats with ten points on 57% (4-7) shooting while playing just 18 minutes. Durr also had two steals to tie his career-record of 41 steals set last year. That mark is also good for fourth on the program's single-season charts behind only Chambers and Haywood.
Jonah Cottrell was good for nine points and tied his season-high with three steals. He has three steals in each of the last two games and has hit that tally in six games overall this year. All six games with three steals have come in conference play. Only University of Antelope Valley's Ronnie Rousseau III has more such games in this year's Cal Pac slate.
Durr had three or more steals in six conference games last year.
Justin Nguyen tied his career-high with eight points and shared team high with three-assists on Saturday night. It was his third career game with eight points and all three have come in conference wins, two of the three against La Sierra. Nguen was 67% (2-3) from downtown in the most recent win.
Seth Cobb also knocked down two triples and finished with eight points and an assist, while Kingsley Obiorah grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Five of Obiorah's 12 rebounds were offensive, which tied his career-high for the third time this year. Obiorah has grabbed double figure rebounds in nine games this year and Saturday's efforts allowed him to jump two spots on the program's single-season rebounding charts. The sophomore sits in the fourth spot with 185 rebounds behind Chambers (2012-13), George Idehen (2013-14) and Aaron Laflin (2015-16).
It took the Bobcats nearly five minutes to get on the board and playing in his hometown, Westlake got the Bobcats their first points with a triple off a Haywood assist.
The Bobcats first 12 points came from beyond the arc and back-to-back Nguyen triples midway through the half gave UC Merced a 12-10 lead. La Sierra responded with a 4-0 run and soon after the Bobcats trailed 20-14 with 6:02 left before intermission.
The Bobcats slowly chipped away at La Sierra's lead and regained the advantage on a Cobb triple amidst a 9-0 run. Durr had four points in the surge and a pair of free throws put the Bobcats up 26-22 with 3:16 left.
La Sierra came back to take the lead but Durr beat the first half buzzer to give the Bobcats a 29-28 lead heading to the dressing rooms. Pham's squad has led at intermission in four of the last five games and seven of the last eleven.
Haywood scored on the Bobcats first possession of the second half. It was the start of a game-best 16-0 run that lasted the first eight minutes and ten seconds and put the Bobcats up by a game-high 19 points at 47-28. The Bobcats forced six turnovers during the stretch. All nine of Cottrell's points came in the same time span.
The Bobcats lead was between 15 and 19 points for the next five minutes and the lead was at least double figures the rest of the night. The closest La Sierra got was ten with 4:39 to play but a solid offensive stretch from Cobb built the advantage back to 16 points, 56-40 with just over two minutes on the clock.
Before the night ended, Maceo Reddick showcased his athleticism with a one-handed putback dunk that garnered the attention of SportsCenter and easily became the highest engaged Instagram video involving the UC Merced Athletics all-time. It garnered more comments than SportsCenter posts involving NBA rookie sensation Zion Williamson and 4X NBA MVP Lebron James on the same day.
It was Reddick's third career field goal, first ever away from Hostetler Court.
Looking ahead, the Bobcats travel to Lancaster, Calif., as the No. 2 seed in the California Pacific Conference Championships and will take on No. 3 Cal Maritime on Saturday, February 29. Tip-off from the Pioneer Event Center is scheduled for 7:30pm. The winner will take on either No. 1 University of Antelope Valley or No. 4 Simpson University on Monday, March 2 in the championship game.
