MERCED, Calif. - The University of California, Merced men's basketball team won its sixth straight season opener with an 82-66 win over Bethesda University on Saturday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.

The Bobcats (1-0) have also won five straight home openers under head coach Kevin Pham.

The Bobcats were led by forwards Kingsley Obiorah and Jaron Mertle, who both scored in double figures and combined to shoot 61% from the floor and 100% (8-8) from the charity stripe. The Bobcats shot a program-record (94%) from the foul line as a team.

Obiorah opened the Bobcats scoring with a slam dunk and had multiple throw downs throughout the night en route to a 16-point night. Obiorah made seven of his ten field goals to help register his second highest scoring output in his career. Obiorah added six rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal in the Bobcats win. Obiorah's work on the glass allowed him to pass Ronnie Kozak for eighth on the program's all-time rebounding list with 366 career rebounds.

Mertle tied his career-high with 14 points and led all players with ten rebounds for his second career double-double. A career-high six of his ten rebounds came on the offensive glass.

Cameron Brown scored 12 points on 67% (4-6) shooting in his collegiate debut. Brown, who earned the start, is one of just five players in program history and the first since 2016 to score at least 12 points in their collegiate debut. All of Brown's 12 points came in the second half. The San Lorenzo, Calif., native and point guard also led the Bobcats with two steals.

Jayson Wiltz added eight points and a career-high four assists, while Mason Westlake pitched in seven points and tied his career-high with eight rebounds. Westlake added four assists to his season-opening efforts.

Other individual notables include six points from Jordan Webster, five points and seven rebounds from Josiah Ajiake, six rebounds from Chris Bramah, and two blocks from Georgie Nze.

Webster made his collegiate debut, while Bramah played his first game in a UC Merced uniform. 

Defensively, UC Merced limited Bethesda to just a 32% mark from the floor and scored eleven points off 12 Bethesda turnovers. The Bobcats also held Bethesda under 15% (4-27) from beyond the arc. Pham's squad outrebounded the Flames 40-22 on the defensive side, 52-35 overall.

The Bobcats led for 37 of the final 40 minutes and grabbed their first double digit lead at 23-11 after a 7-0 run capped by an Ajiake three-point field goal. The Bobcats extended their lead to 14 points towards the end of the first half and carried a 40-30 lead into intermission. UC Merced assisted on eleven of their 17 made field goals in the first half. All four of Westlake's assists came in the opening 20 minutes.

UC Merced scored the first five points in the second half and maintained a lead between 10 and 17 points for the first ten minutes of the final frame. A three-point play and the first career basket from Brown started an electric stretch for the Bobcats that saw the home team go up by as many as 27 points. Along with Brown's tough play inside, a pair of Obiorah one-handed slams and a Wiltz triple with a taller defender in his face highlighted the surge. The Bobcats game-high 27 point lead was at the 67-40 mark.

UC Merced finished the night shooting 44% (31-70) from the floor, 23% (5-22) from beyond the arc and a program-record 94% (15-16) from the charity stripe.

Fifteen Bobcats saw action. Brown, Webster, Alton Dubois, Miles Winfree and David Chukwuemeka made their collegiate debut.

Looking ahead, UC Merced will play sixth-ranked William Jessup University as part of the Bill Holtz Warrior Classic at Warrior Arena in Rocklin, Calif., on Friday, November 4 at 7:30pm.