Merced College men’s basketball falls short at home

The Merced College men’s basketball team is still looking for its first Central Valley Conference win.

The Blue Devils have had a number of competitive games in the first half of league play, but haven’t been able to finish. That inability burned MC again on Saturday night at Don Reid Court.

Behind the steady play of Robert Martinez (17 points) and Deonta Woodard (17) the Blue Devils held a 10-point lead with less than three minutes to play. MC didn’t score again and West Hills rallied for a 75-71 victory.

Jermaine Crowder added 12 points for MC (1-16, 0-5 CVC).

Simpson University 94, UC Merced 74 in Redding – Joshua Kimble (game-high 28 points) and Kevin Ellsworth (18 points, six rebounds) put on a two-man show for the Bobcats, but John Sykes’ squad couldn’t get enough stops in a road loss.

Geroge Olumba finished with 10 points off of the bench for UCM (1-21, 0-4 Cal Pac).

Women’s Basketball

UC Merced 71, Simpson 53 in Redding – Christina Castro (game-high 26 points) led a 3-point barrage, draining eight of the Bobcats’ 12 in an easy road win.

Alexis Wu chipped in 10 points for Merced (9-8, 2-2 Cal Pac).

West Hills 64, Merced College 49 in Coalinga – Janae Jackson and Nitoyra Bone each had a team-high 11 points, but the Lady Devils offered up little resistance in a road loss to West Hills.

Tekerra Borden added eight points for MC (3-15, 1-4 CVC) in her first game back since a car accident.

Men’s Volleyball

Concordia 3, UC Merced 0 in Merced – Cole Smith’s eight kills and Scott Livesay’s 21 assists helped the Bobcats (1-8) turn in a competitive showing in Sunday’s 25-21, 26-24, 25-16 loss to NAIA No. 2 Concordia.

It was part of a rough home weekend for UCM, which also lost to Hope International on Saturday. Smith led the weekend with 25 kills.

This story was originally published January 25, 2015 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Merced College men’s basketball falls short at home."