Glendora, CA - The Citrus College Owls defeated Rio Hondo on Monday night, 83-58 behind a 20-point effort from James Reynolds.
Daniel Fleming set the tone early on, hitting a three-pointer in the first minute as the Owls grabbed an early lead. The Road Runners fought back to take a 5-4 lead and over then next eight minutes the teams traded six leads before Rio Hondo went ahead 15-11 on a Matt Chagolla three-pointer. It would be their biggest lead of the night and their last lead as Citrus scored the next eleven points and grabbed a 22-15 lead. The Road Runners got as close as four points with less than four minutes in the period, but Citrus went on a 10-1 run to lead 37-25 at the intermission.
Reynolds scored 13 points in the first half and was followed by eleven from Tron Smith. Chagolla and Uriahn Barragan had six apiece for Rio Hondo, who shot just 30% in the frame. Citrus, by contrast, shot 43.8%.
The Owls were able to clear away some demons in the second half as they secured a large lead and were able to hold onto it. This season Citrus has been plagued by second-half letdowns, but tonight would not be one of them. The Owls cruised in the half and grabbed their first 20-point lead with 2:10 to play on a pair of free throws by Jeremy Black. They were ahead 76-56 at that point and went on for the 25-point win.
Citrus (7-5) shot 45% for the game with a pair of 20-plus performances as Smith finished with 21. Fleming added 13 along with eight rebounds and Phil Friesen finished with ten. Shaughn Hull recorded a game-high five assists and Chad Allen contributed a game-best nine rebounds.
Rio Hondo (2-6) outrebounded the Owls 46-43, getting seven apiece from Rashon Haralson and Murshon Moore. Mike Lee, Barragan and Vernon Covington each scored eight points to lead the team.
Citrus will be back in action on Thursday as they travel to compete in the LA Southwest Tournament. The opening round will see the Owls face Fresno College, ranked #6 in California’s northern division.