Mesa, Ariz. – It truly was a tale of two halves for the Warriors of Westcliff. After trailing by three before the break, the team bounced back with 32 points to give them the 65-54 dub over the Bobcats of UC-Merced. Their road trip back to Irvine, Calif. just got a lot sweeter, with the California Pacific Conference basketball championship trophy in hand.
From the start, energy was the highest it had been throughout the entire tournament, and understandable so. If the stress from trying to win a championship game wasn't enough, the winner of this match up received a berth in the NAIA championship tournament.
#1 Antelope Valley punched their ticket to the tournament after winning the Cal Pac regular season title.
Josh Harrison of the Bobcats tied up the game 11-11 with a jumper followed by a forced turnover from Gary Harris. On trend, Harris threw up a poster worthy dunk that extended their lead to two points, sending the fans into pandemonium early.
Westcliff used that momentum to post a 9-0 run, keeping the Bobcats in a five minute scoring drought. Kingsley Obiorah brought the Bobcats back to earth with an easy tip-in to get them back to a 21-25 point game. Josiah Ajiake followed up with a three-pointer and jumper, bringing them into the lead by one.
Heading into halftime, the Bobcats had a duo of players scoring into the double digits, with Westlake putting up 10 and Obiorah leading the team with 12.
The Warriors secured a comfortable lead following the start of the second half, completing a 11-0 run before calling a timeout during the 13 minute. Obiorah broke the six minute dry spell with a layup that brought the score to 46-35. He had a more quiet, but still effective game, leading the team with 18 points, nine rebounds.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, Westcliff was only getting started. Abdul Abdullah broke double digit scoring and joined Cap Uzan with 10 points apiece. Uzan posted a jumper, forcing UC-Merced to head into their second timeout of the half.
Harris laid down a detrimental three-pointer that took their lead to 17 points over Merced. Things seemed to get worse for Merced, who suffered a five and a half minute scoring drought while Westcliff extended the lead to 17 points.
Dedrick Martin and Westlake answered with a 8-0 run over the course of three minutes. Chris Bramah and Cameron Brown also chipped in with a pair of free throws.
With only a minute left in the game, it was clear to the Bobcats that a win was out of reach.
Harrison capped his night with 15 points and three assists. Abdullah recorded a double double with 13 points and a team high of 11 boards. The Warriors finished shooting 47.2%, which boosted them over the Bobcats who shot 40%.
The Warriors job isn't over yet. The NAIA National Championship awaits them, as well as regular season winners, University of Antelope Valley, on March 7-8.
