Garcia free throws complete epic UC Merced comeback, upset of Cal Maritime

Hostetler Court has seen its share of memorable basketball games in five years since the UC Merced men’s and women’s teams made their intercollegiate debut – the men’s overtime thriller with Division II Fresno Pacific in inaugural season and the women’s upset of Cal State Monterey Bay last season.

Still, pound for pound, the Bobcats faithful haven’t witnessed a better collective evening of basketball than it did Saturday night.

Trailing by 17 with 13:45 to play, the UC Merced men staged a furious comeback against NAIA Division II No. 23 Cal Maritime. Aaron Laflin hit two free throws with just over a minute to play to put the Bobcats up for good, and Branson Garcia locked up the 61-58 victory by drilling two more with five seconds left.

It was arguably the biggest victory in program history and is certainly the biggest win in the tenure of first-year coach Kevin Pham.

Laflin had the best game of his young career with the freshman racking up a team-high 22 points and 14 rebounds. Ben Nguyen scored 12 points off the bench for the Bobcats (7-9, 3-3 California Pacific Conference).

The win came on the heels of an almost equally entertaining 80-74 victory by the UCM women over the Keelhaulers.

The Bobcats (5-14, 4-0 Cal Pac) clung to a three-point lead with 1:18 remaining. Sarah Hopkins-Chery’s squad clinched the victory at the free-throw line, sinking eight in the final minute-plus.

Courtney Danna put on a show for the crowd, scoring a career-high 30 points with a team-high six assists in the victory, which put the Bobcats one win shy of tying their most conference wins in school history.

College men

Fresno City 100, Merced College 68 in Merced – Anthony Nolen (game-high 26 points) and Jose Gonzales (24) continue to be a formidable one-two punch for the Blue Devils (2-18, 0-7 Central Valley Conference), but they couldn’t get stops in a loss to the Rams (20-6, 6-1) at Don Reid Court.

Former Golden Valley stars Evan Stillahn (17 points) and Joshua Sykes (10) had solid games in their return home for Fresno City.

College women

Fresno City 70, Merced College 56 in Merced – TaJaheray McMahan paced the Lady Devils (12-11, 4-3 CVC) with a team-high 19 points and Jovanah Arrington had 12, but Merced wasn’t able to overcome a 22-point halftime deficit against the Rams (21-3, 7-0).

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Garcia free throws complete epic UC Merced comeback, upset of Cal Maritime."