Roundup: Merced College men’s basketball team working overtime often early in the season
Off the early returns, the Merced College men’s basketball team will be competitive. The Blue Devils have a 2-2 record after four games, all decided in overtime by an average of three points, including a triple-OT win against Monterey in the San Jose tournament.
The Blue Devils have racked up eight overtime periods so far, for 40 extra minutes.
The backcourt is leading the way. Sophomore point guard Mike Teal scored 36 in a loss against San Mateo and is listed among the top 10 in the state. Freshman off-guard Tyreon Payne added 40 more in the same game.
According to head coach Allen Huddleston Jr., both are playing shutdown defense.
Men’s Soccer—Merced College will finish no lower than third in the most competitive conference in the state (five of the six teams with winning records).
A worthy accomplishment for a second-year program.
As MC looks toward the playoffs, sophomore Felipe Lopez (Delhi) has scored the winning or tying goals in each of the last three games and has recently committed to Chico State on scholarship, while Thomas Kniereme (Oakdale) has committed to UC Merced.
Sophomores Geo Lopez (Pacheco). Daniel Borges (Pitman) and freshman David Mejias (Beyer) have continued to excel.
Sidenote — Assistant athletic director Steve Cassady has written the text for a coffee table book recently released, Field of Play, featuring six decades of photographs on professional football, principally the Raiders and the 49ers.
The photos are the work of internationally renowned rock music and sports photographer Michael Zagaris, with whom Cassady collaborated in an escapade around the NFL from 1973 to 1988. The book will be featured on America Today this week and is available on Amazon and may be previewed on the on the website www.zagarisbook.com.
UC Merced
Men’s Soccer — The UC Merced men’s soccer team defeated third-seeded Westcliff University 3-2 on Thursday afternoon to advance to their third consecutive California Pacific Conference Championship game.
The second-seeded Bobcats (12-1-5), winners of the last two tournament championships, will play No. 1 seed Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on Saturday night in Riverside.
Andres Lua scored two first-half goals for the Bobcats, while Michael De La Cruz scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 65th minute to beat the Warriors for the second time this season. De La Cruz’s goal came less than a minute after Westcliff netted an equalizer.
Lua’s multi-goal game made history across multiple levels. He broke the program’s single-season goals record previously shared by Cody Golbad and Artemio Contreras with his 17th and 18th goals of the year.
Lua also passed Golbad and Juan Flores for second on the program’s all-time points list with 124 career points. Lua’s 124 career points now ranks top five in Cal Pac history. Finally, Lua tied Golbad and Flores for the most conference tournament goals in program history with four career tournament goals.
Marco Sobrevilla made five saves. The Bobcats have also qualified for the NAIA National Championship Opening Round for the sixth consecutive year.
All-Cal Pac Postseason Awards were also announced this week. Anthoni Martin was named the Cal Pac Defensive Player of the Year. Martin also earned All-Cal Pac First Team honors with Lua and Xavier Barajas. Agustin Guerrero earned All-Cal Pac Second Team honors. Marco Sobrevilla, Ernesto Velazquez and Kevin Capetillo were named honorable mentions.
Women’s Soccer — UC Merced women’s soccer fell 2-0 to top-seeded Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on Thursday night, ending the Bobcats season.
Trinidad Quiroz was named the Cal Pac Offensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. Other postseason awards include: All-Cal Pac First Team (Quiroz and Isabella Spiva), All-Cal Pac Second Team (Trinity Dunbar and Jocelyne Garcia), and honorable mention (Baleigh Zamudio).
Men’s Basketball — UC Merced men’s basketball defeated West Coast Baptist College 102-70 on Wednesday. The 102 points marked the third highest total in program history and it was the Bobcats first time crossing the century mark since 2017.
Josiah Ajiake and Caleb Gilbert each finished with a career-high 18 points.
