Gauchos march into Palomar finals

The Saddleback men's basketball team marched into the Palomar College Tournament finals on Saturday with a 95-63 win over Los Angeles Trade Tech.  The Gauchos had six players in double-figures in improving to 8-1 on the year.

Saddleback dominated all facets of the game and received balanced scoring across the board.  Dusty Baker finished with a team-high 15 points and Collin Host 14 as the Gauchos shot 53% from the field on 35-of-66 shooting.  Saddleback was also good in the defensive end, allowing the Beavers to make only 30% of their shots from the field (17-of-56) and 20% from three-point range (3-of-15). 

Making matters worse for Trade Tech was domination on the boards as Saddleback out-rebounded the Beavers 38-19.  Conor Clifford led Gauchos with nine rebounds for the game.

Saddleback has now won three straight games since dropping their only game of the season to San Bernardino Valley on November 16.  The Gauchos will look to improve to 9-1 on Sunday in the finals of the Palomar Tournament at 5:00 PM.  Saddleback will play the winner of Palomar College and Southwestern College.

The 32-point win was the largest margin of victory for Saddleback since beating Orange Coast College by 40 last February (97-57).