FRESNO, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team defeated Fresno Pacific University 71-51 for its second straight road win against a NCAA Division II opponent on Saturday night.
The Bobcats (4-4) 20-point margin of victory is their biggest ever against a NCAA Division II team. Also of note, the Bobcats win was their first in program history against Fresno Pacific.
Four Bobcats scored in double figures and head coach Kevin Pham's team shot 48% from the field, 40% from three-point range, and 90% from the charity stripe.
Cameron Brown had 14 points in his second straight double figure scoring performance.
Myles Haynes scored a career-high 13 points and shot 3-5 from downtown. He scored 13 points in just 19 minutes of action.
Tiler Fears pitched in 12 points and three assists, passing George Idehen for fifth in program history with 133 career assists.
Aidan Sevilla was good for a season-high ten points, while Elijah Charles made two field goals and hauled in ten rebounds. Other notables include seven points from Blake Hudson and six rebounds from Jaron Mertle.
UC Merced held a +20 rebounding advantage, 40-20, which was their biggest in a road game since April 7, 2021.
The Bobcats trailed 7-2 early but then used a 6-0 run to grab their first lead of the game at 8-7 at the 13:46 mark. After a FPU bucket, the Bobcats bench embarked on an 11-3 run over the next three and a half minutes to go up 19-11. Haynes knocked down two triples in the stretch, while Hudson hit one three-pointer.
The Bobcats also led by eight points inside of five minutes at 26-18 and remained strong holding at least a two-possession lead the rest of the half. UC Merced's advantage was 36-29 at intermission.
UC Merced grabbed its first double-figure lead of the game two minutes into the second half, 41-31, after a Brown bucket. Jayson Wiltz followed with a three-pointer to extend the lead to 13 points. A little later, the Bobcats put together back-to-back second chance baskets to go up 50-35 with 12:58 left. FPU cut its deficit to eight points two minutes later, however Pawllos Habtom answered with a triple and the Bobcats lead was 10+ points the rest of the night.
Pham's squad led 60-46 with 6:18 left before putting the game away for good behind stellar defense. The Bobcats scored the next seven points and held FPU without a point for the next four minutes, building a 67-46 lead and then winning the game 71-51.
UC Merced limited FPU to just 28% shooting in the second half. FPU shot 37% for the whole 40 minutes.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will host #7 The Master's University on Thursday, December 5 at 7:00pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium. Thursday will mark the Mustangs first trip to Merced since 2017.
