The Buhach Colony Thunder (Atwater, CA) basketball nipped the visiting Merced Bears (Merced, CA), 51-48 in Wednesday's league test.

The Thunder (7-14) will now prepare for their test against Atwater (Atwater, CA). The Falcons go into the Central California Conference test with a 21-0 record. In their last test, Atwater got by Ripon (Ripon, CA), 63-27, in a non-league test.

The Bears now own a 9-12 record. They play next when they host Golden Valley for a Central California Conference test on Friday, January 20. Merced will encounter a Cougars squad coming off a 54-51 league win over Patterson (Patterson, CA). The Cougars record now stands at 11-9.