Gauchos zap the bees at the buzzer

The Saddleback men's basketball team pulled off its biggest win of the season with a 66-63 win against Fullerton College on Wednesday night inside the Saddleback gymnasium.  Nik Lipovic nailed a three-pointer at the final buzzer as the Gauchos zapped the Hornets.

Saddleback opened the night 1.5 games out of first place in the Orange Empire Conference and needed a win with three teams in front of them in the standings.  Making things doubly important was that the game was against Fullerton College, the defending state champions and one of the teams in front of them. 

Saddleback took a 25-19 lead into the locker room at the half after holding Fullerton to 27% shooting from the field.  The Gauchos fell behind 7-2 in the early stages before heating up and chipping away at the Fullerton lead.  Saddleback went on a 14-3 run in taking a 16-10 lead after Captain Whitlock nailed a three-pointer with 9:00 remaining in the half.  The Gauchos increased the lead to eight in the closing minutes after Nik Lipovic drained a three-pointer and Dillon Waikle made a jumper for a 22-14 lead with 2:23 remaining.  Whitlock finished the half with 11 points and two steals while the Hornets made just 1-of-8 shots from beyond the arc.

Fullerton quickly tied the game at the beginning of the second half when Ronnie Stapp and Ryen Perry buried back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 25-25.  Saddleback again answered, scoring eight straight points, with David Dial starting the run with a three-pointer of his own.

Fullerton would chip into the lead over the next 10 minutes, finally tying the game at 48-48 with 6:46 remaining in the game.  Neither team would lead by more than four points the rest of the way, with the Gauchos leading 63-61 with under 30 seconds remaining. 

Fullerton came down in the final 15 seconds and tied the game when Stapp drove to the basket and scored with five seconds left on the clock.  The Gauchos wasted no time, getting the ball inbounded to Whitlock with his coach shouting for him to drive to the basket.  Whitlock instead opted to get the ball on the wing to Lipovic, who buried a three-pointer at the buzzer for the 66-63 win.  It was the third three-pointer of the half for Lipovic as the Gauchos finished 6-for-13 from long range in the second frame.

Dial and Whitlock finished with 18 points apiece to lead Saddleback in scoring while Lipovic had 12 points and Tristan Williams nine.  Omajae Smith finished with a game-high 23 points for Fullerton in a losing effort. 

With the win, Saddleback now stands at 13-7 overall and 6-2 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The win moved the Gauchos into a tie for third place with Fullerton, trailing both Riverside City College and Santiago Canyon College by a game in the standings. 

Saddleback will play again on Friday night when they travel to Cypress College to take on the Chargers (12-8, 3-5).  Game time is scheduled for 7:00 PM.