Basketball Recap: Diego Aguilar's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Merced over Lodi

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Merced can now relate to. They took a 61-48 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Lodi Flames on Wednesday. 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 272nd, while the Flames are ranked 93rd).

Diego Aguilar

Rebounds

02/19/25 @ Lodi	7
02/14/25 @ Golden Valley	4
02/12/25 @ Atwater	4
02/07/25 vs Buhach Colony	4
02/05/25 vs Los Banos	3
+ 14 more games

Merced lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Diego Aguilar, who posted 13 points and seven rebounds. That's the most boards he has posted since back in December of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Jordan Thomas, who went 6-for-11 en route to 14 points and six rebounds.

Merced's loss dropped their record down to 19-10. As for Lodi, they are on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 14 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 21-8 record this season.

Merced does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Lodi, they wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next matchup, a 60-39 defeat against Jesuit on the 21st.