Mission Viejo, CA -- The Chargers traveled to Saddleback, the second ranked team in the OEC, for a Thursday night showdown. Despite holding a half-time lead, the Chargers were unable to pull off the upset and fell to the Gauchos, 68-54.
The Chargers were lead in the first half by David Gonzalez who scored 18 points. He was 4-4 from behind the 3-pt line. In the first half they held the lead by as much as nine points before Saddleback slowly came back to cut the lead to two, 30-28.
In the second, the Chargers held the lead until Saddleback came back to tie the game at 41-41 with ten minutes remaining. From then on, they continued to slowly extend the lead until the end of the game at 68-54.
Gonzalez ended up with 29 points. Mark Townes added seven points and both Jerred Cook and Kevin Barnes tossed in six for the Chargers.
As a team the Chargers shot 35.2% from the field and 40.9% from 3-pt range. Saddelback controlled the boards the entire night and outrebounded Cypress 52-30.
The Chargers will finish up the season next Friday night (2/21) at home for "Legends of Hoops" night against Santa Ana at 7:30pm. For free tickets to the event click here.