Men’s basketball bounces back by beating the Bobcats

MERCED, Calif. – Cal Maritime secured its second victory in the last three head-to-head games against UC Merced, its first on the Bobcats' home court since January 28, 2017, and secured a split of the season series thanks to Saturday's 61-53 victory at the Joseph Edward Gallo Recreation & Wellness Center in Merced, California.

The Keelhaulers will enter its upcoming five-game homestand, which starts Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. inside PEAC Main Gym against UC Santa Cruz, with a 7-11 overall and 7-5 conference record. UC Merced, a team that won eight of its nine previous home games entering tonight's contest, will continue its season with respective records of 12-6 and 8-4.

Entering the locker room at halftime trailing 29-27 following a low-scoring opening half, the Keelhaulers saw the Bobcats extend that lead to its biggest margin of the night, at 13 points with just over 10 minutes left to play, before enjoying a scoring surge of their own.

Following back-to-back layups from Everett Perrot, Lunden Taylor drilled a three to pull CSUM within six with 8:37 remaining. Another three, this time from Braxton Adderly, rocked the Bobcats because that basket turned UCM's one-time double-digit cushion into a three-point lead, and capped a 10-0 Cal Maritime run that spanned two minutes and 10 seconds.

Perrot shined all night long as he posted his first double-double as a Keelhauler with game highs of 16 points and 13 rebounds — setting new CSUM career highs in the process.

The Bobcats clung to their precarious lead throughout the following minutes until another Perrot layup evened the score at 47. After forcing UC Merced to turn the ball over on the ensuing possession, Taylor's three gave the Keelhaulers a 50-47 lead that never disappeared since they slowly extended that lead until the final buzzer sounded.

In addition to outrebounding the Bobcats, 37-31, Cal Maritime turned 12 UCM turnovers into 12 points. Even through CSUM also turned the ball over 12 times, its defense made key stops on the other end of the court since it allowed only five points off those miscues.

Led by Taylor with 10, the Keelhaulers' bench dominated the Bobcats' reserved by scoring more than twice as many points as their counterparts (22-10).