MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's basketball team shot over 50% from the field and scored 80 points, but the Bobcats were unable to slow down the leagues highest scoring offense and fell 86-80 to Cal State Monterey Bay on Sunday afternoon inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (3-7, 1-5) 80 points marked their most in a conference game since February 8, 2025, while their 35 made field goals marked the most in any game since December 7, 2024.
Elijah Charles led the Bobcats with 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and a career-high tying three steals. The senior shot 61% (8-13) from the floor.
Sterling McClanahan matched Charles' scoring output with 18 points on nine made field goals while also adding two assists.
Pawllos Habtom tallied 12 points, five rebounds, and a season-high tying three steals. Habtom shot 50% (4-8) from the field and 100% (4-4) from the foul line in his best scoring output in CCAA play.
Myles Haynes turned in eight points to go along with four rebounds, two blocks, and a steal.
Jaden Hubbard and Cyprus Graham also scored eight points. Graham was credited with a block.
Jon Taylor grabbed a career-high eleven rebounds in addition to dishing out three assists and collecting two steals.
Austin Dewes blocked two more shots and is now seventh in program history with 38 career blocks, passing Ryan Edwards. Dewes and Jordan Bateman pitched in four points each.
The Bobcats scored on their first two possessions of the game but missed their next six shots after that. Meanwhile, CSUMB exploded on a 17-0 run over the next four minutes to force the Bobcats to play catchup for the rest of the game. The CSUMB run saw them score on seven straight possessions and it was enough to keep them in front the rest of the game. The 13-point lead at 17-4 would also match the games biggest lead.
Charles ended the Otters run with five straight points of his own to bring the Bobcats back within single digits, 17-9. A little later, McClanahan cut the deficit to seven points at 22-15. The Bobcats deficit remained between 7-13 points the rest of the first half. There were two instances where the Bobcats trailed by 13 but cut it to seven, however UC Merced trailed 43-33 at intermission.
The Bobcats kept battling in the second half and pulled back within seven points on a Graham bucket just over four minutes in, 49-42. After a block from Haynes, Charles had the Bobcats within two possessions at 54-48 with 12:00 to go. Shortly after, Haynes made it a five-point game, 59-54 inside of ten minutes.
Back and forth action followed, but an 11-4 Otters run from the 8:02 mark to the 4:16 mark made it tougher for the Bobcats down the stretch. UC Merced then trailed 77-64 inside of three minutes.
UC Merced also trailed by 13 points with a minute to go, 81-68. The Bobcats trimmed the final margin down to six points with a 12-5 run in the final minute. Habtom and Hubbard each scored six in the final minute.
Despite the loss, UC Merced won multiple statistical categories including field goal percentage, rebounding, and turnovers. The Bobcats forced 16 turnovers, their most in a conference game this season.
CSUMB held the advantage from the three-point line and the charity stripe. The Otters put together a .433/.387/.917 shooting slash, hitting 12 triples and 22 free throws.
Up next, UC Merced will play at 2025 NCAA Runner-Up Cal State Dominguez Hills on Thursday, January 8. Tipoff from the Toro Dome in Carson, Calif., is scheduled for 7:30pm.
QUOTES
Coach Gary Stewart on the message to the team after the game:
"Well, again, I thought we did some really good things. But we didn't do enough good things. The scouting report was we really wanted to get control of the three-point line. We didn't do that tonight. And specifically, their bigs really shot it well and we knew going in that they were certainly capable of doing that and they got some good looks and made them. You got to give them credit."
Coach Gary Stewart on defending the highest scoring offense in the league:
"Well, it's really difficult because they can score a basket in a multitude of different ways. You saw that they posted five different guys today. They also had six or seven different guys take threes. They really stretch you out and they've got two dynamic scores, two of the best scorers in our league. One of them kind of plays at the block and on the perimeter, and the other one plays at the point and on the perimeter and so spacing is a real issue because it's hard to rotate to them because of their three-point shooters. You always feel like you're a step late either to get to the block or you're a step late to close out to the three-point line. And they capitalize on it, give them credit. They're a really tough output to guard.
Coach Stewart on Jon Taylor tonight (point guard grabbed eleven rebounds):
Yeah, and again, that was a critical part of the game that we really wanted to emphasize. We really got hammered on the glass in the first half. And Jon, all night long was sticking his nose in there and got his hands on some more balls too down there, I just felt like he battled like a warrior. He is a guy that, when you look at him, you kind of look at our entire team in terms of the toughness, in terms of the never say die attitude type of guys. And so we're fortunate, obviously, to have him. He's certainly played well for us this year and when we play our best basketball, he's on the floor.
Coach Stewart on if Sunday was one of the Bobcats best offensive games of the year:
Well, I think in some areas it was. But there's other areas that I felt we could have done better. We had some opportunities at the basket that we didn't convert, that were shots that we want to continue to get because our guys are certainly capable of making those, and it's hard to get there and we need to capitalize on that. But we got in better rhythm tonight. We didn't turn the ball over as much. And we were assertive and aggressive, certainly in the second half. We've been struggling a little bit in the second half and tonight we put up 47 points in the second half, which is huge for us.
Coach Stewart on what it's going to take to have a good upcoming road trip:
"Well, you got to go one at a time, and obviously we're in tough down in Southern California. Every opponent in this league is extremely well coached. There's talented guys littered throughout the rosters of the folks that we're playing, so we've got our hands full against anybody that we play. But we like it that way. We're competitive and we got highly competitive guys and so they want to be challenged. And we certainly will be down in Southern California against Cal State Dominguez and Cal State LA. Dominguez is coming off of a national championship appearance and LA I'm really close with their head coach, Jim Saia, and he is a terrific coach. So we're going to see more of the same that we've seen before. But again, the mantra, the message to the guys is that we're one or two possessions, you know, this weekend and go back to San Bernardino, it's a one possession game. So we're in the middle of the ring and we're swinging. We just got to continue to get better and improve on the things that we're going to emphasize this week and see what happens next weekend. Looking forward to going down south and playing two really, really good opponents. And it's fun to see the disparity and stops and how people play. I've got a binder full of notes and I'm sure I'm going to get another chapter full this coming week.
