The Merced Bears will face off against the El Capitan Gauchos at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Merced has three straight victories, El Capitan has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.
Last Friday, Merced didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Enochs, but they still walked away with a 49-45 win.
Jordan Thomas
| 01/10/25 vs Enochs | 3 |
| 01/07/25 vs Bear Creek | 6 |
| 01/02/25 @ Sonora | 3 |
| 12/30/24 vs West | 6 |
Merced got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Jordan Thomas out in front who went 5 for 12 on his way to 12 points in addition to six boards and three steals. Thomas is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed three or more in the last four games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Diego Aguilar, who posted 13 points.
Merced smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive rebounds. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive board total in three consecutive games.
Meanwhile, El Capitan came up short against Gregori on Wednesday and fell 69-61. While losing is never fun, the Gauchos can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 449th, while the Jaguars are ranked 95th).
Merced will have to contain Diego Ultreras as he made an impact in El Capitan's last game. He almost dropped a double-double on 13 points and nine boards. Those nine rebounds gave Ultreras a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Ian Vasquez Gomez, who went 5 of 9 on his way to 9 points.
Merced is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a massive bump to their 11-7 record this season. As for El Capitan, their loss dropped their record down to 9-7.
Merced came up short against El Capitan when the teams last played back in January of 2024, falling 62-58. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of El Capitan's Braylen Centeno, who went 8 of 18 on his way to 27 points and three steals. Now that Merced knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
