Basketball Recap: Merced's Run of Three Straight Wins Now Over

Merced lost against West back in December of 2017 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Monday. The Merced Bears fell to the West Wolfpack 46-42. While losing is never fun, the Bears can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 386th, while the Wolfpack are ranked 126th).

When it comes to explaining why Merced lost, don't look at Jordan Thomas. Despite the final result, he posted 11 points in addition to seven boards and six steals. Another player making a difference was Jovian Martinez, who went 5 of 11 on his way to 12 points and five rebounds.

Bears

Previous 5 Games

12/30/24 vs West	42-46
12/28/24 @ Clovis	65-61
12/27/24 vs Pleasant Grove	56-32
12/26/24 vs Justin Garza	60-45
12/21/24 vs Bellflower	50-58

Merced moved to 8-7 with that loss, which also ended their three-game winning streak. As for West, the victory was the tenth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 13-1.

Merced didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 53-49 win against Sonora on the 2nd. As for West, they will challenge St. Mary's at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. St. Mary's is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 56.2 points per game this season.