IRVINE, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team fell 71-59 to Westcliff University in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the loss, the Bobcats (16-9, 14-6) finish the Cal Pac slate tied for their best winning percentage in a full conference season. UC Merced will enter next weekends California Pacific Conference Championships as the #4 seed and will host fifth-seeded Benedictine Mesa on Friday, March 1. The Bobcats recently beat BenU 73-65 at home a weekend ago.
UC Merced shot close to 50% from the field and 40% from three-point land, and outrebounded Westcliff in Saturday's loss, but couldn't withstand a strong Warrior second half and came up short.
Cameron Brown led the Bobcats efforts with 15 points, five rebounds and two steals. Brown, who shot 50% from the floor, scored 10+ points in 19 of the 20 conference games this year. The sophomore also passed George Idehen and Josh Kimble for the sixth most points in a single-season in UC Merced history as he is now up to 387 total points on the year.
Josiah Ajiake made three three-pointers on 3-5 shooting on his way to scoring 13 points. He also tied his career-high with seven rebounds and notched two steals.
Aidan Sevilla recorded eleven points, three assists, and two steals. Chris Bramah added ten points and five rebounds, while Jaron Mertle finished with nine rebounds and three assists.
Westcliff started the game on a 6-0 run over the first two minutes but the Bobcats were able to pull even at 7-7 shortly after. Sevilla gave the Bobcats their first lead of the game at 11-10 with 13:29 to go in the first half.
Then tied 14-14, Fears made a layup that started a 16-3 UC Merced run. The Bobcats scored eight straight points and then another eight straight after a Westcliff three-pointer. Head coach Kevin Pham's squad led 30-17 at the peak of the run inside of six minutes to go in the opening stanza. Ajiake and Brown each scored six points in the stretch, including two Ajiake triples.
UC Merced led 35-24 with three minutes left and 39-31 at intermission.
The Warriors quickly erased their deficit in the second half, scoring five points in the opening minute and started the half on a 10-0 run overall over a four and a half minute stretch to then take a 41-39 lead. Ajiake put the Bobcats on the board and tied the game 41-41on an offensive rebound putback.
Sevilla followed with a jumper, but then Westcliff hit a three-pointer and got a breakaway slam dunk for another lead change. The Bobcats answered right back with a 5-0 spurt at the ten-minute mark to go up 49-46.
However, Westcliff then scored on four of their next five possessions and got defensive stops every trip down the floor to garner a 56-49 advantage with seven minutes left. Then after a miss, they scored on six straight possessions to create more separation. The Bobcats answered the Warriors on the other end on a couple possessions, but it was a 69-56 game with three minutes left.
A Sevilla bucket with 3:42 to go was the Bobcats last bucket until an Evin Goodwin three-pointer with the shot clock off to cut the game-high 15-point deficit down to 71-59 at the final buzzer.
UC Merced finished the night shooting 48% from the floor and 38.9% (7-18) from downtown. Westcliff shot 51% overall and 47.8% (11-23) from downtown. The Warriors also made eight more free throws than the Bobcats.
Up next, UC Merced will host BenU in the California Pacific Conference Championship Opening Round on Friday, March 1 at 12:00pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium. The entire Cal Pac Men's Basketball Championship will be held in Merced March 1-4.
