RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team extended their winning streak to five games with a 76-67 win over La Sierra University on Saturday night inside Alumni Pavilion.
The Bobcats (13-6, 11-3) five-game winning streak is their second of the season, marking their first time in program history with two winning streaks of that length in Cal Pac play.
Cameron Brown recorded his third consecutive 20-point outing finishing with 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals. He made 9-11 free throws. Overall, it was his 15th straight double figure scoring performance and 17th of the season. He joins Aki Chambers as the only other player in program history with at least 17 double figure scoring games and 40+ steals in a season. Chambers first did it in the 2011-12 campaign.
Chris Bramah neared a double-double with 14 points on 67% (4-6) shooting from three-point range and grabbed nine rebounds.
Tiler Fears and Jayson Wiltz scored eleven points each. Fears, who hit nine free throws, also had four rebounds.
Jaron Mertle and Myles Haynes matched each other with six points and six rebounds.
UC Merced led 9-4 after three and a half minutes into the game thanks to five early points from Bramah. The two teams were tied 14-14 under 12 minutes before La Sierra took their first lead of the game at 16-15 on a second chance basket.
The Bobcats trailed 20-16 with eight minutes left in the first half and 25-23 closer to halftime.
UC Merced responded with a 13-2 half-ending run that started with a Fears layup and then a Bramah three-pointer. Brown scored the last six points of the run to put his team up 36-27 at intermission.
Brown then scored the first five points of the second half followed by a Haynes field goal which extended the Bobcats lead to 16 points, 43-27 just over three minutes into the period. The Bobcats grew their lead to a game-high 22 points, 53-31, at the ten minute mark.
However, La Sierra worked their way back into the game and a barrage of three-pointers brought the Golden Eagles all the way to within six points at 61-55 with five minutes left in the game. Benjamin Ramirez, the Cal Pac's leading scorer, had two of the Golden Eagles three-pointers in the stretch.
Brown and Mertle responded to get the lead back to ten points over the next couple of possessions and it was a 72-57 UC Merced lead inside of three minutes.
The Bobcats were sent to the foul line the rest of the way and head coach Kevin Pham's defense did its part in the final couple minutes to help secure the win.
UC Merced finished the night shooting 46.9% from the field, 50% (6-12) from beyond the arc, and 58.5% (24-41) from the charity stripe.
The Bobcats 41 total foul shots are a new program-high.
With the win, the Bobcats have won nine consecutive road games against La Sierra.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will play at Simpson University on Tuesday, February 3 to close out a three-game road trip. Tipoff from the James M. Grant Center in Redding, Calif., is scheduled for 7:30pm.
