MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team led wire-to-wire in a dominant 78-47 win over Stanton University in the 2023-24 season opener on Sunday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
With the victory, the Bobcats (1-0) have now won seven straight season openers under head coach Kevin Pham.
The Bobcats executed well on both ends of the floor on Sunday, shooting 50% from the field while holding first-time opponent Stanton to just a 24% shooting mark.
Jaron Mertle led the Bobcats and recorded his second straight season-opening double-double with 13 points and eleven rebounds. It was his fourth career double-double. The Bobcats captain shot 71% (5-7) from the floor and also dished out three assists.
Chris Bramah matched Mertle with 13 points and made six of his seven free throw attempts. The returning Cal Pac Honorable Mention also had two steals and a blocked shot.
Cameron Brown finished with 12 points off the bench on 5-10 shooting and notched a career-high four steals.
Josiah Ajiake was the Bobcats sharpshooter in the win and poured in eleven points on 50% (3-6) shooting from beyond the arc.
Aidan Sevilla helped make the Bobcats offense go with five assists. DeDrick Martin grabbed seven rebounds.
Other notables include five points from Jayson Wiltz and five rebounds from Blake Hudson.
The Bobcats stifled Stanton defensively throughout, but it was suffocating in the first half as the Bobcats limited the Elks to just two made field goals over the first ten minutes of action and just two more over the next ten minutes. With the effort, UC Merced led 19-6 at the midway point of the first half. Brown had six of the Bobcats points during the opening run.
Head coach Kevin Pham's team extended the lead to 23-8 shortly after and went up by as many as 18 points at 29-10 following an Ajiake triple.
The lead was between 14 and 19 points leading up intermission with the Bobcats carrying a 38-22 advantage into the locker room.
Out of the break, Stanton cut the deficit to ten points less than four minutes in before the Bobcats put the game away for good. An Ajiake three-pointer with just under 14 minutes to play sparked a 15-3 run over the next six minutes, which peaked at a Wiltz transition layup to put the Bobcats up 58-36.
Leading by 22 points with four minutes left, Hudson scored his first career field goal to start another Bobcat run. This time it was a 14-5 run to end the game which was highlighted by back-to-back triples from Jon Taylor and Skylar Robinson.
The Bobcats finished the night shooting 50% (26-52) from the field, 44% (8-18) from three-point land, and 51% (18-35) from the charity stripe. Stanton finished with a shooting slash of 24/17/78, a credit to the Bobcats defense. No Elk made more than three shots. The Bobcats defense also forced 20 turnovers.
Up next, UC Merced will play an exhibition game at UC Riverside on Tuesday, November 7. Tipoff from SRC Arena in Riverside, Calif., is scheduled for 7:00pm.
