Gauchos Dial up a win

The Saddleback men's basketball team opened the Riverside City College Tournament with a 69-67 win against Cooper Mountain College on Wednesday in Riverside.  Saddleback guard David Dial guided the Gauchos in the win.

Saddleback went to two games above .500 for the second time this season and have now won three straight games.  The Gauchos did it with a big second half, outscoring the Fighting Cacti 40-31 over the final 20 minutes. 

Saddleback and Copper Mountain were fairly even through the first 10 minutes of the game when the Gauchos went ice cold, failing to score a point for a four-minute span as Copper Mountain took a 10 point lead.  The Gauchos finally broke the cold spell when Dial made a jumper with 6:25 remaining in the half.  Copper Mountain would eventually head into the locker room with a 36-29 lead at the half.

Saddleback came out with a different attitude in the second half and quickly cut into the lead.  Captain Whitlock scored on the opening possession to cut the lead to five before Dial made a layup with 19:06 remaining to cut the deficit to 36-30.  The Gauchos would get even at 38-38 when Nik Lipovic drained a three-pointer with 16:32 remaining to tie the game at 38-38.

Saddleback took its first lead of the second half with 12:23 remaining when Tristan Williams made a layup for a 46-45 lead.  The game remained tight until the 4:12 mark when the Gauchos made a mini-run.  Whitlock made a jumper to give Saddleback a 59-55 lead with 4:12 remaining.  On the next possession after a defensive stop, Dial hammered home a three-pointer and the Gauchos had their biggest lead of the game at 62-55 with 3:54 remaining. 

Copper Mountain whittled the lead down to three in the final minute, forcing Saddleback to take a timeout.  The Gauchos came out of the huddle with a good plan, as Dial made another jumper with 52 seconds remaining for a 68-63 lead.  Saddleback would eventually hang on for a 69-67 win.

Dial finished with a game-high 23 points, making 9-of-16 shots from the field and going 2-for-2 from three-point range.  The Gauchos also received a game-high 10 rebounds from Keegan Cummins.

Saddleback is now 5-3 on the season after the win on Wednesday.  The Gauchos will face Mt. San Jacinto College on Thursday at 1:00 PM.