SANTA ANA - The Dons opened Orange Empire Conference play with a 78-61 loss to visiting Saddleback College. The loss snaps the Dons four-game winning streak while dropping their record to 8-8 overall and 0-1 in conference. Saddleback, on the other hand, has now won 14-straight games to improve to a 19-1 overall record and a 2-0 mark in the OEC.

The Gauchos established their biggest lead of the first half just two seconds before halftime as they took a 46-21 lead into the break. The second half is where Saddleback established its biggest lead of the game at 55-27.

For the Dons, they were able to ride late three-pointers by Ramez Michail to cut the lead down to 17, which would prove to be Gauchos lead at the end of the game with the 78-61 final score.

Michail led all scorers with 21 points while Justin Bryan added 12 points and Chris Kapano added another 11 points. For Saddleback, Andrew Bournes led the way with 19 points followed by Conor Clifford with 17 points and Dusty Baker with 15 points.