CALDWELL, Idaho – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team battled but fell to No. 1 The College of Idaho in the NAIA National Championship First Round on Friday night inside J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
The Bobcats season comes to end with an overall record of 20-7. College of Idaho moves on to play Friends in the NAIA Second Round on Saturday.
College of Idaho's Samaje Morgan was the games leading scorer with 13 points and four assists. Johnny Radford had ten points and two steals.
In a stellar defensive showing, UC Merced held College of Idaho nearly 30 points under their season average and the 59 points scored by the Yotes is tied for their fewest in their last 61 home games dating back to the 2021-22 season. The Bobcats held the Yotes to 39% from the floor and just 23% from downtown. UC Merced forced ten turnovers.
Cameron Brown led UC Merced with 12 points, eight rebounds, and a steal. His scoring put him over 400 points for the second straight season, while his rebounding efforts moved him ahead of Ronnie Kozak for sole possession of tenth in program history with 368 career rebounds. His steal was the 100th of his career.
Jayson Wiltz scored eight points to go along with a block and a steal, while Jaron Mertle added seven points and seven rebounds in his 100th career game.
Other notables include six points from Aidan Sevilla and two steals from Josiah Ajiake.
Playing in its first ever national tournament game, UC Merced scored on two of its first three possessions and held a 9-7 lead after six minutes of play. Scoring was hard to come by over the next six minutes, but Brown broke a drought for the Bobcats to put his team back in front 14-13 with 7:45 remaining in the first half.
However, the 14-13 lead was the Bobcats last lead of the game. College of Idaho responded to the deficit with eleven straight points to take the first double digit lead of the game, 24-14. Fears ended the Yotes six-minute run with a three-pointer and then Brown hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit in half by intermission, 24-19.
College of Idaho started the second half on a 10-0 explosion with Morgan leading his team to a 34-19 lead just five minutes into the period. Pawllos Habtom responded with a three-pointer for the Bobcats, but UC Merced couldn't close the gap any further and found themselves trailing 46-29 midway through the half and by as many as 23 points with three minutes to go.
Despite the deficit and time not in the Bobcats favor, UC Merced kept fighting and scored the games final ten points to close the margin to 13 points by the final buzzer, falling 59-46.
Stay up to date with men's basketball in the offseason by following the team on social media @ucmercedmbb.
