REDDING, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team dominated another second half to extend their winning streak to six games, beating Simpson University 71-54 on Tuesday night inside the James M. Grant Center.
The Bobcats (14-6, 12-3) win also clinched their fifth consecutive postseason berth and the team currently sits in the second spot in the California Pacific Conference standings with five games to go. This years postseason tournament will be held in Merced March 1-5.
UC Merced outscored Simpson 41-22 in the second half to earn the victory. Of the Bobcats six-game winning streak, head coach Kevin Pham's squad has won three straight on the road.
Chris Bramah and Cameron Brown shared game-high with 16 points on Tuesday night.
Bramah hit four three-pointers for the second straight game and also tallied eight rebounds and a steal.
Brown added five rebounds, three assists, and two steals to his scoring output.
Jaron Mertle tied his career-high with 14 points and grabbed ten more rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. The senior jumped up the program-record books with his efforts, moving ahead of Ryan Edwards for sixth in program history with 422 career rebounds and sixth in program history with seven career double-double's.
Aidan Sevilla added a UC Merced career-high 12 points on 6-9 shooting in 19 minutes off the bench.
Jayson Wiltz scored eight points, while Tiler Fears pitched in six rebounds and three assists. Fears' six rebounds were a season-high.
The Bobcats took their first lead of the game at 8-7 four minutes in with an offensive rebound putback from Brown. After falling behind 12-9, Bramah buried a triple for another lead change.
There were four more lead changes over the next five minutes with UC Merced leading 22-20 inside of nine minutes to play in the first half. Then, each team went on an 8-0 run starting with Simpson's run to go up by a first-half high of six points at 28-22. Wiltz started the Bobcats response and their 8-0 run with a three-pointer and then a Mertle three-point play tied the game 28-28. A Brown steal and slam dunk put the Bobcats up 30-28 with two minutes left in the half.
Simpson scored the final four points to lead 32-30 at intermission.
UC Merced dominated the second half in part due to a 53.3% shooting mark, a +9 rebounding advantage, and winning the turnover battle.
The two teams traded buckets over the first six minutes before the Bobcats pulled away for good with a 20-6 game-ending run, including a 14-0 run to start.
Wiltz and Mertle started the 14-0 run with back-to-back triples and then a Brown basket inside gave the Bobcats their first double-figure lead of the night at 59-48 closing in on seven minutes. Shortly after, Bramah hit a couple free throws and then Sevilla scored four unanswered points to cap off the 14-0 surge that stretched over seven and a half minutes.
Pham's squad led by as many as 19 points, 71-52, at the two-minute mark.
The Bobcats finished the night shooting 48.2% from the field, 35% from beyond the arc, and 71.4% at the charity stripe.
The Bobcats also forced ten Simpson turnovers while committing a season-low seven.
Up next, UC Merced will host league-leading University of Antelope Valley in a showdown of the top two teams in the Cal Pac standings. The two teams will tipoff at 4:00pm on Saturday, February 10 inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium in Merced, Calif.
