RIVERSIDE, Calif. – For the first time in program history, the University of California, Merced men's basketball team is California Pacific Conference Regular Season Champions following a 77-63 win over La Sierra University on Thursday night.
The Bobcats (18-5, 9-0) will now be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. Also of note, UC Merced is 9-0 in Cal Pac play for the first time in program history.
Overall, UC Merced has won 12 consecutive games which is tied for the third longest active winning streak in the NAIA.
Cameron Brown led the charge for the Bobcats with 15 points, eight rebounds, and two assists. He scored his 15 points in part due to shooting 90% (9-10) from the free throw line. Brown's scoring output was his 50th career double-digit scoring game.
Tiler Fears scored 12 points and didn't miss a shot in his first start of the season. Fears was 100% (6-6) at the charity stripe and hit both of his three-point attempts.
Aidan Sevilla was good for nine points, five rebounds, and two steals. Jaron Mertle and Jayson Wiltz also scored nine points to go along with five and four rebounds, respectively.
Josiah Ajiake finished with six points and season-high's of five rebounds and two steals. He hit two three-pointers to move ahead of Branson Garcia and Aki Chambers for eighth all-time with 80 career triples.
Other notables include seven points from Pawllos Habtom, five points from Blake Hudson, and four rebounds and a block from Myles Haynes.
Head coach Kevin Pham's group led 10-2 six minutes into the night with four different Bobcats scoring a bucket early on. After La Sierra scored five straight, the Bobcats followed with an 8-0 run and held the Golden Eagles scoreless for the next three minutes resulting in an 18-7 lead. Fears scored five of the Bobcat eight points in the spurt.
However, the Bobcats saw their lead shrink as the Golden Eagles hit back-to-back three-pointers and worked the margin down to a possession with an 11-2 run over the next four minutes.
UC Merced's lead was 22-20 inside of five minutes, but they only extended the advantage the rest of the half dominating on both ends of the floor, finishing the half on a 13-0 run highlighted by six points from Brown. The lead was 35-20 at intermission.
The Bobcats advantage was between 14-19 points for the first five minutes of the second half before pushing the lead to 20, leading 44-24 with the help of Brown. The Bobcats lead never dipped below 18 points for the next seven minutes and the regular season champs held a game-high lead of 24 points at 57-33 following a Wiltz three-pointer with 9:53 on the clock.
The Bobcats led 65-44 with five minutes remaining, however La Sierra did get hot again from beyond the arc and an 18-7 run cut its deficit in half, pulling them within ten points with 1:07 to go. It didn't get any closer than that though and the Bobcats finished out the win, 77-64.
UC Merced ended the night shooting 43% from the floor, 30% from downtown, and 73% (30-41) from the foul line. The Bobcats 30 made free throws tied the season high.
The Bobcats outrebounded the Golden Eagles 42-30 and forced 13 Golden Eagle turnovers.
The Bobcats win marked their sixth straight over the opponent.
Up next, UC Merced will face Westcliff in the regular season finale scheduled for Saturday, February 22. Tipoff from Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Calif., is scheduled for 4:00pm.
