Glendora, CA - Freshman Daniel Fleming recorded a double-double and the Citrus College men's basketball team defeated the Cypress Chargers 84-64 on Friday night. They might have walked away with a 20-point victory but more importantly, they might have walked away with a little more confidence at the early stages of the season.
After seeing large leads blown in each of their first four games, the Owls (3-2) needed to come back from an early deficit and after extending there own lead to double-figures early in the second half, never looked back as they held off any threat from Cypress .
After trailing 7-0 after the first two minutes and trailing 17-10 with 13 minutes to play before halftime, Citrus began to surge. The Owls went on a 9-2 run to tie the game on a three-pointer from Shaughn Hull at 19-19 and soon took the lead for good at 27-25 on a pair of free-throws from Fleming. Citrus took a four-point lead into the intermission, leading 33-29. After the Chargers began the game shooting 4-for-4 from the floor, they were cooled off by the Owl defense and shot just 41% in the half.
The Owls came out of the locker rooms on a mission and quickly built a twelve-point lead, 45-33. Citrus ended up shooting 62.5% in the half and 50% in the game as they pulled away towards the end.
The Owls got a game-high 24 points from Tron Smith , shooting 8-for-15 from the field, but it was the inside presence of Fleming that gave the Owls a strong advantage all afternoon, scoring 15 points to go along with eleven rebounds. Freshman forward Chad Allen scored eleven points in the win, along with four assists and two key steals. The Owl bench outscored their Charger counterparts 30-18, led by eleven from Jason Stubbs and ten from Hull .
Cypress (1-3) was led in defeat by Houstan Downey who scored 17 points including 14 in the second half alone. Eric Taylor added 14 points, hitting 9-for-13 from the free-throw line and Javon White scored eleven points off the bench.
Citrus will be back in action tomorrow, traveling to face Victor Valley . Next weekend they will host the Neil Edwards Holiday Classic, November 25-27. The Owls play at 7:00 pm on Friday against