Roundup: UC Merced basketball teams squeak out tough road wins

The ability to finish games often comes with experience.

Unfortunately for the UC Merced men’s basketball team, that’s something in short supply. Second-year coach Kevin Pham has an all-underclass starting lineup and Joshua Kimble is the only player with more than one year of college experience.

That lack of experience will occasionally create scenarios such as Thursday night’s 58-57 victory over Embry-Riddle. The Bobcats (2-11, 1-1 California Pacific Conference) never trailed in the second half and had a comfortable 11-point lead with 3:52 to play. Aaron Laflin (game-high 17 points) scored to give UCM a 58-47 lead, but the Bobcats didn’t score again.

The Eagles whittled the lead to one as UC Merced missed its last six shots and turned the ball over with 22 seconds left. Embry-Riddle’s Gilbert Ibarra (10 points, eight rebounds) got two looks in the final seconds, but missed both. The Bobcats held on for their first Cal Pac win.

Matt Laflin finished with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds for UCM, while Kimble (10 points) and Branson Garcia (eight) came off the bench for big contributions.

Women’s basketball

UC Merced 52, Embry-Riddle 49 in Prescott, Ariz. – Mia Belvin (team-high 16 points) would not be denied. The freshman guard accounted for 12 consecutive points to open the fourth quarter as the two-time defending champion Bobcats opened their title defense with a big road win.

Courtney Danna had 11 points, five rebounds and three steals. Christina Castro chipped in 10 points off of the bench for UCM (7-6, 1-0 Cal Pac).

Boys soccer

Livingston 2, Pacheco 1 in Livingston – Julian Cabrera’s late goal capped a huge week for the Wolves (13-1, 2-0 Western Athletic Conference) as they ran the table on their two biggest challengers with one-goal victories.

The Panthers led 1-0 at the break, but Cabrera set up Jose Gomez for the equalizer 10 minutes into the second half. Cabrera then scored with 10 minutes left as Francisco Lopez headed a cross into his path.

Girls soccer

Golden Valley 4, Buhach Colony 0 in Merced – Jaylin Meza netted four goals to lead the Cougars past the Thunder in their Central California Conference opener and push her team-leading total to 16.

Katelynn Griego had two assists and Christiane Grijalva made two saves to help GV (9-1-1, 1-0 CCC) get its eighth consecutive shutout.

Livingston 8, Pacheco 0 in Livingston – The Wolves’ scoring barrage continued as Miranda Alvear and Jocelyn Vega each recorded hat tricks in a victory over the Panthers.

Livingston (4-6, 1-1 WAC) has found the back of the net 45 times in its last five games.

This story was originally published January 5, 2017 at 10:24 PM with the headline "Roundup: UC Merced basketball teams squeak out tough road wins."