Gauchos cough up furball against Tigers

Gauchos cough up furball against Tigers

The Saddleback men's basketball team saw its 16-game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday night when they fell to Riverside College, 51-48.  The Gauchos were ice cold from the field all night in falling to 21-2.

Saddleback has relied on a deep lineup all season long and if one person didn't have a big night there was always 6-7 others that did.  On Wednesday night the Gauchos couldn't find an answer as the basket had a lid on it in dropping their first game in over two months.

Conor Clifford had an unusually tough night, making just 2-of-11 shots and collecting only four rebounds in 29 minutes before fouling out of the game.  Clifford's night was equaled by Andrew Bournes, who also shot 2-of-11 from the field with just three rebounds.  In all, the Gaucho starters were 9-of-42 from the field (21.4%).   

Saddleback couldn't do anything to keep Riverside away from the free throw line.  The Tigers made the most of the opportunities, making 21-of-26 from the charity stripe as the Gauchos were called for 16 fouls in the second half.   

Saddleback stayed in the game with some solid free throw shooting of their own.  Dusty Baker made 9-of-10 while Maleke Haynes made 7-of-8 as it was the only part of their game that showed up.

Saddleback (21-2, 4-1) will look to pick up the pieces on Friday when it travels to Orange Coast College to take on the Pirates.  Tip time is scheduled for 7:00 PM.