TURLOCK — Vondel Faniel and the Warriors controlled the paint as Stanislaus State easily defeated its neighbors from UC Merced, 78-43, in an exhibition contest Monday night at Fitzpatrick Arena.

Faniel led all players with 18 points on 7 of 11 shooting, almost all of them from inside the paint. He also had seven rebounds to lead Stan State, which out-rebounded the Bobcats (0-4), 45-33. Stanislaus out-scored UCM, 28-6 in the paint.

Three other Warriors — Kaelen Mitchell (14), Kyi Thomas (11) and Jaelen Ragsdale (10) — were also in double digits in scoring as every Warrior who suited up played. Thomas racked up his 11 points in just 12 minutes of play. He also had two steals.




UC Merced, led by Cole Taira's 10 points, hung in with the Warriors in the first half and trailed by just one, at 19-18, with 7:44 before the half. But Stanislaus went on a 16-1 run to pull ahead.

A 12-0 run midway in the second half pushed the Warriors ahead by 36 points. Thomas had seven of his points during that stretch.

Stanislaus State opens its regular season on Friday at the SF State Tip-off Classic. The Warriors will take on Dominican on Friday and Academy of Art on Saturday at The Swamp at SF State. Both games tips off at 5 p.m.