MERCED, Calif. - The University of California, Merced men's basketball team won their seventh consecutive game with a 68-62 victory over Pacific Union College on Wednesday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.

The Bobcats (7-0) expanded upon what was already the best start in program history and are now in a position to record their first ever perfect regular season. The season finale is scheduled for April 18 at Pacific Union. 

In the home finale, Chiwike E'denchukwu highlighted the Bobcats efforts with a team-high 14 points, including a breakaway windmill dunk early in the first half. It can be seen at the 14:10 mark here. E'denchukwu shot over 50% (6-11) from the floor for the seventh consecutive game and passed Aaron Laflin for third all-time on the program's field goals list with 292 made shots. In his final time suiting up on Hostetler Court, E'denchukwu also grabbed five rebounds and recorded a steal. 

Onkar Sidhu and Robert Benson provided quality minutes off the bench. Sidhu was good for ten points and shared team-high with three assists, while Benson posted career-high's across the board with nine points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

Angel Serena notched a career-high three steals. Jonah Cottrell was the Bobcat who shared team-high with Sidhu in the assist category. With it, Cottrell passed up Matt Laflin for seventh on the program's all-time list with 99 career assists.

The six-point final scoring margin isn't exactly an accurate assessment of the gameflow. While the first half was tightly contested, the Bobcats led by double figures the majority of the second half, before withstanding a late Pacific Union run in the closing minutes to come to the final score of 68-62. 

The Bobcats biggest lead of the night was 19 points, 55-36, eight minutes into the second half. To gain that separation, the Bobcats opened the period on a 23-8 run. Mason Westlake knocked down a pair of triples in the explosion. Sidhu and Mason Johnson also buried a shot from downtown. 

The 19-point lead was followed by a 9-0 PUC run, but the Bobcats kept their double figure lead with a strong defensive effort and a transition basket from Cottrell. The Bobcats got their lead back to as many as 15 points. The lead was 13 with two minutes left before Pacific Union's final push.

The Bobcats lead shrunk to as little as five points, 66-61, with 23 seconds left.

With Pacific Union's late comeback attempt, it ended up being the closest game between these two teams in the last seven meetings dating back to 2018.

The first half had seven lead changes, with the final lead change playing in the Bobcats favor. Tiler Fears broke a 23-23 tie with a trip to the charity stripe and the Bobcats never surrendered the lead.

As a team, the Bobcats shot 46% (24-52) from the floor, 33% (7-21) from downtown and 62% (13-21) from the foul line. The Bobcats held PUC to just a 36% shooting night.

The Bobcats also had 20 points off PUC turnovers and got a season-high 29 points from the bench.

E'denchukwu, Johnson, Serena and Cottrell all suited up for the final time on Hostetler Court.

Looking ahead, the Bobcats regular-season finale is scheduled for 8:30pm on Sunday, April 18 in Angwin, Calif.,against this same Pacific Union squad.