MERCED, Calif. – Cameron Brown and Jaron Mertle registered double-double's and the fourth-seeded University of California, Merced men's basketball team used stingy defense to knock off fifth-seeded Benedictine Mesa 62-55 in the California Pacific Conference Opening Round on Friday afternoon inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (17-9, 14-6), who hosted their first ever Cal Pac Tournament game, have now won a postseason game in four of the last five years.
The Bobcats will now play top-seed and regular-season champion University of Antelope Valley on Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm in the Cal Pac Semifinals.
Brown, an All-Cal Pac First Team selection, finished with 17 points and tied his career-high with 12 rebounds. The sophomore went 11-11 at the free throw line, matching the most free throw makes without a miss in program history. With his scoring, Brown also became just the fourth player in program history to surpass 400 points in a campaign. He added three steals and two assists to his double-double performance.
Mertle finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds, and two blocks. The Bobcats Cal Pac Honorable Mention was 4-7 from inside the three point line.
Mertle's double-double was his eighth of the season, while Brown's was his fourth. With their efforts, UC Merced dominated the glass outrebounding BenU 42-28.
All-Cal Pac Second Team selection Chris Bramah added 12 points, four rebounds, and two steals. He made two three-pointers.
Jayson Wiltz scored 11 points and shot 50% (3-6) from three-point land in his first game back from injury since February 6.
Aidan Sevilla dished out five assists. Tiler Fears added four points, five rebounds, and two steals.
UC Merced led 7-4 early on after a Josiah Ajiake three-pointer, however BenU followed with a 19-5 run to take the games biggest lead at 23-12 with eight minutes left in the first half.
The Bobcats nearly matched the Redhawks run and a 22-7 surge gave UC Merced a 34-30 lead at intermission. Bramah started an initial 7-0 run with a jumper and then after BenU got the lead back to nine points, Brown started earning trips to the foul line and made seven free throws in the push. He also hit a free throw to finish off a three-point play, and then Mertle hit a triple in the final minute to cap off the run. Defensively, UC Merced held BenU scoreless for the final four minutes and 30 seconds in the first half.
Mertle scored the Bobcats first three points of the second half to hold the lead before the Redhawks hit back-to-back shots including a three-pointer to go up 39-38. There were three ties and three lead changes over the next six minutes. The Bobcats took the lead for good on a Wiltz three-pointer from the corner with ten minutes left, putting his team up 48-46.
UC Merced locked in defensively from that point on, holding the Redhawks without points for the next four and a half minutes which resulted in a 54-46 Bobcats lead with 6:17 to go.
UC Merced held a 56-50 advantage inside of three minutes. BenU made it a one-possession game at the two-minute mark before Mertle put the Bobcats back up by five points the next trip down the floor on an offensive rebound putback.
Brown then made all four free throws inside of a minute to seal the Bobcats victory.
UC Merced finished the game shooting 81% (17-21) from the charity stripe as a team. UC Merced shot 33% from the floor and 31.8% from downtown.
The Bobcats forced 16 BenU turnovers and held the opponent to just 23% (3-13) from downtown.
Up next, the Bobcats will play UAV on Sunday for a spot in the championship game. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:00pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
