Cats beat OCC and now wait for announcement

The Saddleback men's basketball team finished the regular season with an 84-71 victory over Orange Coast College on Friday night inside the gymnasium.  The Bobcats now wait to hear if they have qualified for the 3C2A Regional Playoffs on Sunday.

Saddleback was playing an Orange Coast team with only one win on the season, but with a record hovering around .500 it was imperative that the Bobcats pick up a win if they want to qualify for the playoffs. 

Saddleback took an early lead when it bolted out to a 13-4 advantage over the first 6+ minutes.  Orange Coast, however, had no quit in trying to finish the season on a strong note.  The Pirates battled back and took the lead with 3:30 left in the half, serving notice that the game wasn't going to be handed over on a silver platter.  Saddleback carried a 36-31 lead into the locker room after Jacob Simon buried a three-pointer to get the Cats back in front.

The second half belonged to Charlie Stallings.  The sophomore playing in his final regular season game at Saddleback had the biggest half of his career.  Stallings had 22 points in the final 20 minutes in finishing 10-of-11 from the field. 

The game was tight until the 8:00 mark when Saddleback went on a run to put the game out of reach.  The Bobcats outscored the Pirates 15-6 over 4.5 minutes to put the game on ice.  Saddleback eventually stretched out the lead to 15 points in the final minute.

Stallings finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the win.  Mark Reichner added 16 points, and Simon had 15 points while Saddleback had a dominating performance on the glass, outrebounding the Pirates 41-20 for the game.

Saddleback is now 14-14 overall and 5-9 in conference play to finish the regular season.  The Bobcats seem to be in a decent position to claim one of the final spots in the playoffs when the pairings are announced on Sunday.