Gauchos take Santa Ana downtown

The Saddleback Gauchos came out hot and never let up in beating Santa Ana College 89-59 on Wednesday night at the Saddleback Gymnasium.  The Gauchos were red hot from the outside, blazing past the Dons from three-point range.

Saddleback played with a sense of intensity they haven't had in a month.  The gauchos came out with a purpose and drove home a point…as in three points.  The Gauchos set a single-game record for shooting percentage from long range, making 14-of-19 (73.7%) to break a record set back in 2004-05 (Cypress, .667%).  Andrew Bournes was the headliner, making 6-of-7 from long range in leading the Gauchos with 22 points on the night.  Maleke Haynes and Dusty Baker were both 2-for-2 as seven different different Saddleback players connected from long range.

Saddleback was so hot from the outside that it made no sense to shoot from anywhere else.  The Gauchos shot 59% from two-point range for an overall shooting percentage of 65%  Things got bad down the stretch for Santa Ana when Carlos Jimenez, averaging 2.3 minutes a game during the course of the season, buried the 14^th three-pointer of the game with two minutes remaining.

The win improved Saddleback to 24-2 overall and 7-1 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Gauchos now have a 1.5 game lead on Irvine Valley College in conference play.  The two teams will play on Fridat night at IVC.  Game time is set for 5:00pm.