IRVINE, Calif. - The University of California, Merced men's basketball team traded lead changes with Westcliff University for the majority of the game, but ultimately couldn't recover from a late Westcliff run and fell 70-59 on Friday night at the Jordan Lawley Facility.

The Bobcats (7-4, 3-2), who led by seven points in the first half and by as many as five points in the second half, shot 47% (25-53) in the loss. 

Chris Bramah led all scorers with 17 points while recording a season-best .779 field goal percentage. Bramah scored all of his points in the final 23 minutes of the game and made his final four shots.

Kingsley Obiorah tied his season-high with 16 points to go along with eight rebounds, a block, and a steal. His rebounding total moved him ahead of Chiwike E'denchukwu for third all-time in program history with 461 career rebounds.

Mason Westlake pitched in 12 points in his climb to become the program's all-time leading scorer. Westlake, the California Pacific Conference's all-time three-point record holder, is now just a triple away from becoming UC Merced's all-time leading scorer with 1,098 career points. Westlake also hauled in five rebounds and was credited with a steal in addition to his offensive efforts on Friday. 

Jaron Mertle blocked a career-high three shots, grabbed six rebounds, scored four points, and recorded three assists. Mertle has blocked at least one shot in six straight games and has already tied his single-season high with nine total blocks.

Other individual notables include five points and four rebounds from Tiler Fears and two steals from Jayson Wiltz.

Friday night saw seven first half lead changes and eight more in the second half.

Trailing 17-13 with under nine minutes to play in the first half, Fears started an 18-7 run to give the Bobcats their biggest lead of the night at 31-24. The Bobcats run covered over eight minutes of gametime. Obiorah was the Bobcats leading scorer in the surge with six points. Bramah and Westlake knocked down a three-pointer in the stretch. Head coach Kevin Pham's squad led 31-29 at intermission.

The two teams traded baskets and leads to start the second half and neither team led by more than two possessions for the first 13 minutes. However, the Bobcats final lead of the night was 48-47 with 9:22 left. Tied 50-50, Westcliff scored eleven unanswered points and led by double figures for the final four minutes of the night. Westcliff's largest lead was 15 points, 70-55.

Looking ahead, UC Merced returns home to play Pacific Union College on Tuesday, December 20 at 5:30pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.