SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Wednesday afternoon was a day to remember for Mason Westlake and the University of California, Merced men's basketball team. Westlake, who tied his career-high and reached 1,000 career points, hit a buzzer-beating three-point field goal to lead the University of California, Merced men's basketball team to a 68-67 win over Westmont College.

Westlake is the Bobcats (4-2) third 1,000 point scorer and is now within 100 points of becoming the program's all-time leading scorer, passing Aki Chambers who has held the record since 2013.

Westlake's buzzer-beating game-winner was the second of his career and his splash from downtown also tied his career-high with 33 points on the day. Westlake also joins Chambers as the only two Bobcats in program history to score 30 or more points in a game multiple times in their careers.

The Bobcats trailed 67-65 with a minute left and after both teams got a defensive stop, the score stayed the same when the Bobcats got the ball back with five seconds left. Westmont used two fouls to give, evaporating nearly four seconds, leaving head coach Kevin Pham's team with just 1.4 seconds left on the clock needing to execute a sideline out of bounds play to either force overtime or go for the win. 

The Bobcats elected to go for the win, finding Westlake near corner. Westlake caught the pass, stepped back, faded away, and cashed the triple with a defender draped all over him. The ball went in as the clock hit zeros to give the Bobcats their first ever win in eight tries against Westmont. Also making the Bobcats win impressive, Westmont beat top-ranked Arizona Christian University by 13 points less than a week ago.

Westlake reached 33 points in part to due to seven three-point field goals and a 69% (13-19) shooting mark overall. The grad student also recorded two steals and two assists.

Kingsley Obiorah added 12 points and ten rebounds for his second straight double-double. Obiorah also blocked a shot.

Jaron Mertle added seven points and six rebounds, while Cameron Brown and Tiler Fears pitched in six points each.

Other individual notables include four rebounds from Jayson Wiltz, three assists from Chris Bramah, and a block each from Mertle and DeDrick Martin. Bramah's third assist led to Westlake's game-winner.

The buzzer beater put an exclamation point on an already thrilling game. The scoring margin remained within two possessions for the first 10 minutes of the game, and then after Westmont pulled ahead by eight points at 27-19, Westlake got hot and four of his triples in a six minute stretch gave the Bobcats the lead. Mertle then cashed in a field goal before intermission and the Bobcats led 38-35 at halftime. 

Brown helped extend the Bobcats lead to two possessions shortly after the break. Just over seven minutes in, Martin forced a turnover and then converted at the other end to give the Bobcats their biggest lead of the night at 52-45. 

UC Merced led all the way until the final 90 seconds, when Westmont's Jalen Townsell buried a triple in front of his team's bench to put Westmont on top 67-65.

The score remained 67-65 until Westlake's heroics, the buzzer beater from the corner falling away with a hand in his face.

UC Merced finished the night shooting 43% (27-62) from the field,  a season-best 42% (8-19) from beyond the arc, and 86% (6-7) from the foul line. The Bobcats forced eleven Westmont turnovers and capitalized with 20 points as a direct result.

Up next, UC Merced begins California Pacific Conference play by hosting Benedictine University Mesa on Thursday, December 1. Tipoff from inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium is scheduled for 7:30pm.