Shorts heads all-conference selections

The Saddleback men's basketball team will find out its playoff fate today but over the weekend the coaches met to decide on the All-Orange Empire Conference Team.  T.J. Shorts was one of four to make the team.

Shorts was named to the first team after guiding Saddleback to a 24-4 overall record and a second place finish in conference play.  The sophomore from Tustin averaged 16.7 points and 5.7 assists-per-game while finishing second on the team with 4.8 rebounds-per-game.  Shorts was the reigning MVP of the conference and faced a ton of double-teams in 2016-17, but still managed to score in double-figures in 24-of-28 games with a season-high 33 against Riverside on December 9.  He also had a season-high 11 assists against Cypress on January 18 and led the team with 44 steals for the year. 

Making the OEC second team were Breaon Brady, Nick Crankshaw and Jake Hawes.  Brady averaged 11.9 points and 6.9 rebounds-per-game, scoring a season-high 25 points in back-to-back games against Sequoias and Antelope Valley in early November.  Crankshaw averaged 4.2 points and 4.0 rebounds-per-game, finishing second on the team in assists (2.3 pg) while shooting 80% at the free throw line.  He had a season-high 13 points against Riverside on February 8.  Hawes came off the bench to average 10.0 points-per-game in just 16.2 minutes-per-game.  He led the team with 74 three-pointers made, shooting 44% from beyond the arc for the year.  Hawes had a season-high 20 points against East Los Angeles on December 7.

Saddleback will find out its playoff fate today when the Southern California pairings are announced.  The Gauchos are expected to be a top-4 seed, putting them at home for the entirety of the SoCal playoffs.  Keep it tuned into saddlebackgauchos.com for all the latest news or follow breaking news on Twitter with the Gaucho Dude @SCGauchos.