COSTA MESA, Calif. - The University of California, Merced men's basketball team fell 91-65 to the host Vanguard University in the Thanksgiving Classic Friday afternoon.

Despite the loss, the Bobcats (2-4) got a career-high 16 points out of Tiler Fears in his return to the court after missing the last three games due to an injury. 

Fears, who came off the bench, shot 55% (5-9) from the floor and converted all four free throw attempts.

Caleb Gilbert joined Fears in double figures with ten points. Gilbert's four straight games in double figures is the longest active double figure scoring streak on the Bobcats. 

Mason Westlake added nine points to go along with a season-high three steals, while Jaron Mertle grabbed a career-high ten rebounds.

Josiah Ajiake was good for eight points, the second highest scoring output in his career. Zach Phipps and Onkar Sidhu had six points each. 

Vanguard was led by Nico Dasca's 18 points. He was one of four Lions in double figures and shot 67% (4-6) from three-point land. Overall, Vanguard splashed 16 triples, which was the fourth most in program history and the most since December 30, 2015. Vanguard shot 50% (16-32) from distance. 

The Bobcats only lead of the day came on the team's first possession, a second chance basket by Mertle. Trailing 7-6 soon after, Vanguard embarked on a 22-0 run over a six-minute span to build a sizable 29-6 advantage in their home gym. 

Fears ended the run with a trip to the charity stripe and converted both shots. The Bobcats deficit was between 21 and 26 points for the next seven minutes before Westlake scored five straight points to make it a 16 point game at 42-26. The Bobcats weren't able to shave any more points off the deficit and trailed 51-33 at the break. 

The 18-point halftime deficit was the largest this season and the Bobcats have now trailed by double figures at intermission in all four of their losses this year. 

Head coach Kevin Pham's team got as close as 55-42 less than five minutes into the second half due to back-to-back triples from Fears and Gilbert.

However, less than two minutes later the Bobcats found themselves trailing by 20 points and the deficit was at least 20 the rest of the way. The biggest deficit was 30 points, 74-44 with 6:27 showing on the game clock.

UC Merced finished the night shooting 37% (23-62) from the field, 25% (6-24) from distance, and a season-high 77% (13-17) from the charity stripe.

Myles Haynes made his collegiate debut in the setback and scored a basket inside of three minutes.

This game was a rematch of the season opener, in which UC Merced beat Vanguard 80-76 in the first meeting between these two teams since 2013.

Looking ahead, UC Merced takes on Hope International University to end Vanguard's Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday, November 27 at 2:00pm.