MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team earned its first victory of the season cruising to an 84-51 win over Stanton University in the home opener on Tuesday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (1-2) 33-point margin of victory is their biggest in a nonconference game since November 4, 2019. Also of note, the Bobcats have now won seven consecutive home openers.
Jaron Mertle led the Bobcats with 14 points and eleven rebounds for his 12th career double-double, passing Aki Chambers for the third most in program history. He only needed 20 minutes to record his double-double. Five of Mertle's rebounds came on the offensive glass. He finished shooting 78% (7-9) from the field.
Jayson Wiltz added 14 points shooting 66% (4-6) from downtown, while Elijah Charles neared a double-double with eleven points and eight rebounds in just 14 minutes of action.
Josiah Ajiake pitched in nine points hitting three of his five shots from beyond the arc.
Cameron Brown and Aidan Sevilla were key distributors with six assists each. That marked a career-high for Sevilla. Blake Hudson added career-high's of four assists and four steals.
Other notables include seven points from Pawllos Habtom and two blocks from Austin Dewes.
UC Merced held Stanton to just 28% from the field and outrebounded the Elks 45-28. The Bobcats grabbed 14 offensive rebounds.
Head coach Kevin Pham's team assisted on 22 of 35 made field goals marking the most assists in a nonconference game since November 28, 2018.
The Bobcats, who led wire-to-wire, jumped out to an 8-0 lead less than two minutes in with the help of a couple Hudson steal and scores.
The first double figure lead came shortly after at 14-4. Stanton cut the Bobcats lead to 16-11 but then UC Merced responded with another 8-0 run capped by a Tiler Fears bucket.
A little later, Hudson connected with Charles on an alley-oop to put the Bobcats up 28-15 with seven minutes left in the first half. The Bobcats lead remained between 8-13 points the rest of the half and the home team led 39-26 at intermission.
After a Stanton triple to start the second half, the Bobcats followed with a 10-0 run over the next three minutes highlighted by a Mertle two handed slam. Wiltz and Sevilla hit a three-pointer in the run that put the Bobcats up 49-29.
Another Wiltz triple extended the Bobcats lead to 23 points at 56-33 and the Bobcats led by at least 20 points for the final 13 minutes of the night.
The lead kept growing as more three-pointers began to fall, including Jon Taylor hitting a shot from downtown to make it 63-36 and Ajiake getting in the mix with his second of three three-pointers down the stretch to extend the Bobcats advantage to 70-40.
Charles was responsible for giving the Bobcats their biggest lead of the night with an offensive rebound putback just inside of five minutes, a 36-point lead at 78-42 as the Bobcats went on to win 84-51.
All fourteen Bobcats that earned minutes scored. Ten Bobcats made at least two field goals. Landon Edmond scored four points in his collegiate debut, while Jordan Bateman scored four points in his UC Merced debut.
UC Merced outscored Stanton 45-25 in the second half after leading 39-26 at intermission.
UC Merced improved to 2-0 all-time against Stanton. Both wins have come by 30+ points.
Up next, the Bobcats travel to Rocklin, Calif., for the Bill Holtz Warrior Classic November 15-16 hosted by Jessup at Warrior Arena. The Bobcats play NCAA Division II opponents Menlo College (Nov. 15) and Jessup (Nov. 16).
