Winner of the President’s Cup basketball competition to be decided Wednesday
This Wednesday night, January 30, will be the deciding second round of the Fifth Annual President’s Cup competition between the Irvine Valley Lasers and the Saddleback Gauchos.
Started in 2009, the President’s Cup is a friendly competition between Irvine Valley and Saddleback’s men’s and women’s basketball teams. The two schools play four games against each other every year, two men’s games and two women’s. The Cup is awarded to either the school with the most wins in the four game series, or if the two schools split the series, whichever school scored the most points over the four games will receive the Cup.
The Gauchos won the Cup in the first two years of competition, winning in 2009 by outscoring the Lasers 213-194, and again in 2010 by winning three of the four games. The following year, the Lasers won the Cup for the first time by taking three out of the four games. Irvine Valley kept the Cup for a second straight year in 2012, outscoring Saddleback 272-258.
This year, the two schools split the series in the first round, as the Gauchos men’s team won 54-49 while the Lasers women’s team squeaked out a close 59-56 victory at the Irvine Valley gym.
In a release from the Saddleback Public Information and Marketing Office, Saddleback President Dr. Tod A. Burnett and Irvine Valley President Dr. Glenn R Roquemore both said that they look forward to the upcoming games.
In the release, Dr. Burnett said, “I look forward to attending the President’s Cup to watch the Gauchos face off against our sister college in what is sure to be an exciting night of basketball.
Tickets for the games will be $10 for general admission, and $5 for students. 100% of the proceeds from the games will go to the Tom Padberg Memorial Endowment Scholarship, in honor of the late husband of South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees President Nancy Padberg, who passed away in December.
“This year we are happy to raise money for a scholarship in honor of Tom Padberg,” Dr. Burnett said in the release. “Tom was a huge sports fan and was always an enthusiastic and loyal fan of the Gauchos. He is greatly missed.”
Opening tipoff for the men’s game will be at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The women’s game will begin following the men’s game at 7:30.