Glendora, CA -After dropping their opening game on Friday night, the Citrus College Owls dropped their consolation bracket game on Saturday afternoon, 84-80 to Cuyamaca College in the Neil Edwards Holiday Classic.
After trailing by 23 points, 58-35 with 16:33 to play in the second half, Citrus went on a charge, closing the gap to just one-point, 77-76 with 1:43 to play. A Tron Smith jumper tied the game with 1:04 remaining but on the next Cuyamaca possession, Ryan Shumaker was awarded a pair of free-throws, hitting both, after a controversial foul call. After an Owl turnover, Citrus was forced to foul again and found themselves down by four, 78-82 after Cuyamaca connected on two more free throws. Smith then brought Citrus back to within one on a three-pointer, but the brilliant comeback would be for naught as they would get no closer.
Smith finished with a tournament high 34 points in the losing effort, adding seven rebounds. Citrus (4-4) also got a strong performance from Deanta Black , coming off the bench to record a double-double with 17 points and ten rebounds, along with three blocked shots. Jason Stubbs added nine points off the pine as the Citrus reserves out-scored their Cuyamaca counterparts, 29-20.
Cuyamaca (3-3), who advances to face Santa Ana College in the fifth-place game, was led by Jameson Francisco, scoring 22 points. Marlon Pierce added 18 points and eight rebounds and Shumaker finished with 14.
The Owls will be back in action later this week when they take part in the East L.A. tournament. They will face Santa Ana College in the first round on Wednesday at 4:45 pm.