LANCASTER, Calif. - The University of California, Merced men's basketball team shot a blistering 53% (30-56) from the floor, 67% (18-27) in the second half to down Cal Maritime on Saturday night, 77-65 in the California Pacific Conference Championships semifinals inside the Pioneer Event Center.
The Bobcats (18-9) advance to the Tournament Championship game for the second time in the last three years and will meet the #1 seed and the host University of Antelope Valley in less than 48 hours.
Saturday night was the Bobcats sixth ever Cal Pac Tournament game, fourth against Cal Maritime and the 53% shooting effort was the program's best in any postseason contest. The Bobcats are 3-3 overall in those six conference tournament games.
Under head coach Kevin Pham, the Bobcats improved to 8-4 against Cal Maritime and have won seven of the last eight meetings. Two of the eight wins are in tournament play, as is one loss.
All-Cal Pac First Team selection Jonah Cottrell led all scorers with 18 points, 14 in the second half and didn't miss a triple all night (3-3). Arguably his biggest triple of the night came five minutes into the second half when he broke a 41-41 tie and put the Bobcats up for good. Cottrell has gone for at least 18 in three of the last four games and for at least 17 points in seven of the last nine. The only other Bobcats to score more than Cottrell in a conference tournament game are Aki Chambers and Michael Pierick. Cottrell added three rebounds on Saturday night and notched a steal for the third straight game.
All-Cal Pac Second Team selection Raphael Durr extended his career-best double figure scoring streak to four games as he poured in 14 points on 78% (6-8) shooting. 12 of his 14 came in the second half, as did his game-high three steals. Durr has notched at least three steals in nine games this year.
3X All-Cal Pac First Team selection Ryan Haywood stuffed the stat sheet with ten points, seven rebounds and seven assists. His seven assists is a Cal Pac Tournament program record and he is the first Bobcat with at least ten points and five assists in postseason play. Similar to Cottrell and Durr, Haywood dominated the second half with six of his seven assists.
Seth Cobb neared a career-high with 13 points off the bench and he buried back-to-back triples after checking into the game at the 15:11 mark in the first half. Cottrell and Cobb are the first UC Merced duo with three triples in a postseason game.
Kingsley Obiorah was good for seven points and a team-high nine rebounds. Alfred Batmani was the Bobcats big off the bench and he pitched in four points, three rebounds and a steal.
The first half was tightly contested throughout and neither team led by more than four points for the first nine minutes of the game. Both teams held the four-point lead, Cal Maritime early on at 13-9 and the Bobcats at the 11:15 mark after Cobb's second triple, 17-13. A couple minutes later, Haywood and Mason Westlake scored back-to-back buckets to put the Bobcats up 22-15.
Justin Nguyen helped maintain the advantage momentarily, but a 9-0 Cal Maritime run capped off by a Zavier Lucero three-point play put the Bobcats behind 25-24.
Tied 30-30 with just over two minutes left, the Bobcats were held scoreless until intermission but played good defense and found themselves down by just a bucket at the break, 32-30.
Durr evened the score at 32 on the Bobcats second possession out of the break. Cal Maritime answered with four straight points, but the Bobcats had a better offensive surge with seven straight points and grabbed a 39-36 lead. Tied 41-41 at the 14:47 mark, Cottrell knocked down a three-point field goal which marked the final lead change of the night.
Cobb followed with a triple and Durr hit a couple baseline jumpers to give the Bobcats their then largest lead of the night at 51-43. A possession later, Cottrell extended the advantage to double figures at 53-43 with 12 minutes remaining.
After the lead was cut down to four, the Bobcats led by nine at 60-51 and another Cottrell triple made it 65-53 approaching the five minute mark.
The closest it got the rest of the way was five at 65-60. The Bobcats created the final separation from there and outscored Cal Maritime 12-5 in the final four minutes to come away with the 77-65 win.
The Bobcats were able to pull away by scoring on seven of their final eight possessions and by defending the three-point line extremely well. The Bobcats held Cal Maritime scoreless from beyond the arc on their seven attempts in the closing minutes.
Haywood played all but the final 27 seconds of the second half and sat out less than five minutes the entire night.
UC Merced held a +1 advantage on the boards, 35-34, but were whistled for 24 fouls and were forced to go without All-Cal Pac Honorable Mention Chiwike E'denchuwku most of the night due to foul trouble.
Other notables include assisting on 14 of 30 buckets and the Bobcats have now won seven straight when tallying at least 14 assists, eight of nine overall this season.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will get another rematch with 12th-ranked and top-seeded UAV in the California Pacific Conference Championship game. The winner gets an automatic entry into the NAIA DII National Championship bracket on Monday, March 2. The Bobcats go for their first tournament trophy in program history at 7:30pm Moday night inside the Pioneer Event Center in Lancaster, Calif.
