ANGWIN, Calif. - The University of California, Merced men's basketball team got career performances out of Jonah Cottrell and Chiwike E'denchukwu but it wasn't enough as the Bobcats fell to Pacific Union College, 74-67 on Saturday night inside The Covered Wagon.
The Bobcats (12-8, 4-4) have now split the season series with the Pioneers in each of the last three seasons, however this is the first time in the stretch where the Bobcats fell in game two.
Cottrell led all scorers with a career-high 22 points, 20 coming in the second half. His strong effort follows a 20-point performance vs. UAV and he becomes just the fourth Bobcat under head coach Kevin Pham to go for 20 in back-to-back conference games. Cottrell joins Aaron Laflin, Matt Laflin and Cole Taira. Cottrell's 22-point performance is also the highest scoring output in a conference road game since Taira had 24 at La Sierra on February 9, 2017. Cottrell, who also tied his season-high with three steals, shot 67% (8-12) from the floor and 100% (4-4) from the foul line.
E'denchukwu notched his first double-double of the season with 17 points and a season-high 14 rebounds. His scoring effort is his best in a Cal Pac game since February 15, 2018 and his 14 rebounds is the most ever in regulation. E'denchukwu grabbed 16 rebounds in the double overtime Cal Pac Championships semifinal game on February 24, 2018.
Cottrell and E'denchukwu became the Bobcats highest scoring duo in a conference game this year.
Alfred Batmani was good for a career-high eight points, while Ryan Haywood finished with seven points, eight rebounds and a game-high four assists. Haywood passed up Aki Chambers for fourth all-time on the program's all-time rebounding list with 396 career boards. Only Aaron Laflin, George Idehen and Ryan Edwards have more rebounds than Haywood.
Mason Westlake and Kingsley Obiorah added three steals and two blocks, respectively. Obiorah is now tied with Matt Laflin for fourth all-time on the blocks charts and is two blocks away from breaking Idehen's single-season record of 31 set back in the 2013-14 season.
Despite falling, the Bobcats led 6-0 early on and held Pacific Union College scoreless for the first four minutes and eight seconds. The score was tied at 12 midway through the first half but Haywood found a cutting Westlake to break the deadlock.
PUC's Chris Jones countered with a triple and it marked the final lead change of the period. The Pioneers led UC Merced for the final eight and a half minutes and mustered a nine-point advantage, 31-22 with just under five minutes remaining. E'denchukwu worked to shave points off the deficit with a strong final 90 seconds, but PUC kept responding and the Bobcats trailed 35-25 at intermission.
The double figure deficit was the Bobcats biggest halftime deficit since November 15 at No. 2 Oregon Tech.
Out of the break, Cottrell scored six points and recorded three steals within the first 90 seconds to cut the deficit down to 35-31.
Trailing 42-37 a few minutes later, Obiorah and Andrew Williams combined for five straight points to tie the game at 42. After a PUC basket, Cottrell buried a triple for a 45-44 advantage and it marked the Bobcats first lead since 14-12 in the first half.
The junior buried another triple shortly after that broke a 48-48 tie with 11:25 on the clock. However, the 51-48 lead would be the last lead of the night for the road team. The Pioneers answered Cottrell's three-pointer with a 7-0 run and led 55-51 approaching the eight-minute mark.
UC Merced came back to tie it at 59-59, the first of three ties in roughly a 90 second span (5:45-4:03). PUC's Marc Williams broke a 63-63 tie and it sparked an 8-0 run for the home team over the next three minutes that essentially ended the contest.
Haywood stopped the bleeding to cut the deficit to 71-65 with 32 seconds left. On the other end of the floor, PUC missed the front end of bonus free throws and Cottrell was able to make it a four-point game with 28 seconds left, 71-67.
The Bobcats weren't as lucky with the shot clock off. PUC made three of their final four foul shots and the Bobcats came up empty on their final two possessions and fell 74-67.
Overall, Pacific Union College shot 83% (10-12) from the charity stripe.
The Bobcats finished shooting 50% (27-54) from the floor, 11% (2-18) from downtown and 55% (11-20) from the foul line.
UC Merced was outrebounded 42-25 and grabbed just three offensive rebounds.
Up next, the Bobcats host Benedictine University Mesa on Thursday, February 6 at 7:30pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
