Gauchos blast Pirates

The Saddleback men's basketball team bounced back from a loss last week with a 93-52 win against Orange Coast College on Wednesday night in Costa Mesa.  The Gauchos used a big size advantage in powering past the Pirates.

Saddleback jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back in winning its 10^th game of the season.  The Gauchos jumped out to a 10-0 lead and didn't allow Orange Coast to score until over six minutes had run off the clock.  Saddleback would eventually take a 45-16 lead into the locker room at the intermission, led by George Maslennikov and his 10 points and six rebounds over the first 20 minutes.

In the second half it was Acton Shirley's turn to show his might.  The 7-footer scored 14 points in the second half in scoring a team-high 18 points for the game.  Saddleback opened up its biggest lead of the game with 4:46 remaining when Shirley slammed home a dunk for an 82-34 lead.

Saddleback finished with a 50-25 lead in rebounds, with Maslennikov leading the way with nine.  The Gaucho defense also suffocated the Pirates all night, allowing Orange Coast to shoot just 29% from the field.

Saddleback also received a solid performance from Nik Lipovic, who made 4-of-6 shots from three-point range in finishing with 12 points for the game.

Saddleback now stands at 10-6 overall and 3-1 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Gauchos host Santa Ana College on Friday night at 7:00 PM in the Saddleback gymnasium.