MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team extended its winning streak to a season-long five games with a 77-65 win over Pacific Union College on Saturday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
With the win, the Bobcats (11-5, 2-0) start 2-0 in Cal Pac play for the third consecutive year.
Also of note, the Bobcats five game-winning streak with all five wins coming by double-digits is a program long. UC Merced never trailed on Saturday night.
Aidan Sevilla led UC Merced with a career-high 16 points while shooting 70% (7-10) from the floor. He scored 14 of his 16 points in the final 12 minutes of the game. Sevilla also had a career-high tying five rebounds, four assists, and a steal throughout the night.
Pawllos Habtom was huge in 25 minutes off the bench nearing a double-double with season-high's of 16 points and nine rebounds. He shot 60% (3-5) from beyond the arc.
Jaron Mertle registered his second straight double-digit scoring outing with 14 points to go along with eight rebounds.
Cameron Brown added 12 points in part due to shooting 100% (6-6) from the charity stripe. He also had two steals, passing Michael Pierick for sixth in program history with 89 career steals.
Other notables include nine points from Jayson Wiltz and a career-high tying seven rebounds from Myles Haynes.
The Bobcats opened the game on an 11-3 run over the first four minutes forcing PUC into an early timeout. A few minutes later, Mertle buried a three-pointer for an 18-7 lead.
UC Merced maintained a lead between 9-12 points for the next six minutes but then PUC put together a 10-0 run to cut the Bobcats lead down to just a possession, 26-24 with 4:34 left in the first half.
Brown stopped PUC's run getting to the free throw line and then scored again shortly after in a 6-0 Bobcat spurt to get the lead back to eight points. The two teams traded trips to the foul line in the closing minutes of the first stanza resulting in a 36-28 UC Merced lead at intermission.
Josiah Ajiake started the second half with an offensive rebound putback to give the Bobcats a double-figure lead again, 38-28. Two minutes later, he finished through contact to put his team by a game-high 14 points at the time.
However, PUC dominated the next four minutes with a 17-3 run to pull even for the first time. It was 47-47 with 13:29 to play. The Pioneers knocked down a trio of three-pointers in their surge.
Needing a boost, Wiltz scored a layup and then the Bobcats defense locked in holding PUC scoreless for the next three minutes. Though, the Bobcats weren't able to create separation in the time and led by a point at 55-54 with ten minutes remaining.
The score stayed the same for the next 90 seconds until Mertle hit a baseline jumper.
Mertle's shot, followed by a Sevilla layup, sparked a game-defining run. Including those two buckets, UC Merced used a 16-4 run over nearly an eight-minute stretch to take over the game and lead 71-58 inside of two minutes. Mertle had a two-handed slam in the run that was made possible due to a Brown steal.
With 90 seconds left, Sevilla buried a deep three-pointer putting his team up 74-60 erasing any PUC chance.
Teams traded free throws the rest of the way as UC Merced won its fifth consecutive game by double digits.
The Bobcats finished the night shooting 46% from the field, 31% from downtown, and 68% from the foul line.
UC Merced outrebounded PUC 38-24 and kept their turnover numbers down to nine, tied for the fewest amount of turnovers in a game this season.
With the win, UC Merced has now won six straight games against PUC.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will travel to Redding, Calif., to play Simpson University on Saturday, January 25. Tipoff inside the James M. Grant Center is scheduled for 4:00pm.
