ROCKLIN, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team fell at the buzzer to Jessup University in the Bill Holtz Warrior Classic finale on Saturday night inside Warrior Arena.
Despite the loss, the Bobcats (2-3) outrebounded the NCAA Division II opponent 40-23 and forced 17 turnovers. The rebounding margin was the biggest in a true road game since February 9, 2023.
UC Merced held a 63-62 lead before Jessup's game-winner, a runner from the elbow as time expired. Jessup dribbled the ball the length of the floor before getting the shot off just in time.
The game-winner was the third lead change in the final minute. Overall, the 40-minute battle saw 19 lead changes and 14 ties.
Jessup's Ja'Maris Blackmon hit the game-winner and he finished as the Warriors leading scorer with 15 points.
Cameron Brown held game-high with a season-high 19 points. Brown also had four rebounds, a season-high four steals, and three assists.
Jayson Wiltz added 14 points on 5-9 shooting, including 60% (3-5) from three-point land. Tiler Fears finished 6-6 at the foul line on his way to an eleven-point night. Fears was also good for three assists and two steals.
Elijah Charles tallied a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with nine points and two blocks.
The game was scoreless for the first three and a half minutes before Wiltz opened the scoring with a bucket inside. The two teams traded buckets after that as there was a made field goal on five of the next eight possessions, resulting in a 7-6 Jessup lead at the 13:12 mark.
UC Merced earned the lead back with a pair of Fears free throws at 8-7, but then didn't lead again until 22-21 inside of seven minutes. A few minutes later, a Brown free throw gave the Bobcats the game's first two-possession lead of the night at 30-26. He continued to earn trips to the charity stripe, eventually putting his team up by a game-high seven points, 35-28 with 1:13 to go before intermission.
Jessup countered their biggest deficit with four straight points and then carried their run into the second half to jump in front 36-35. The Warriors run was 10-2 across the final minute of the first half and first minute of the second.
Brown splashed a three-pointer on the next possession for a lead change and the Bobcats either led or were tied for the next five minutes.
Jessup led 53-50 with 8:07 remaining, which tied their biggest lead of the game. The Warriors never led by two possessions.
Down the stretch, UC Merced led 59-55 after a 6-0 run that included a personal 4-0 spurt for Charles. Charles' next bucket, an offensive rebound putback, had UC Merced in front 61-60 inside of two minutes.
The 61-60 lead held for the next minute until Jessup's Cayden McDaniel accounted for the first of three lead changes in the final 60 seconds. Out of a timeout, Brown knocked down a step back jumper to put his team ahead by a point with 32.2 left.
Defensively, UC Merced got a stop on the other end with a Charles block putting the ball in the Bobcats hands with seven seconds left.
Jessup fouled UC Merced with 4.8 to go, however the Bobcats missed the front end of the one-and-one and that's when Jessup accelerated up the floor for the game-winner.
UC Merced ended the night shooting 38% from the floor, 43% from downtown, and 82% from the charity stripe.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will host seventh-ranked Montana Tech on Wednesday, November 20 at 7:30pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
