Santa Clarita, CA (Men’s Basketball) – The Citrus College Fighting Owls basketball team lost a heartbreaker on Saturday night, as Canyons Gino Riney nailed a jumper with 3 seconds left to give the Owls a close 66-68 loss.
The Fighting Owls charged out of the gate hard, taking a lead in the 1st half and never intending to look back. They started out strong sitting down Canyons inside force Everett Bryson with 2 fouls in the first five minutes, opening up the Owls inside scoring game. Citrus outscored Canyons 16-6 in the paint in that 1st half, on the back of Deonta Black who recorded 10 points in the 1st half, including two rim-rattling dunks that set the tone for the Fighting Owls.
Not only did the Owls take charge inside, but they forced the Cougars into 10 turnovers in the 1st half, out-scoring the Cougars 16-7 on points off turnovers. All of this led to the Fighting Owls shooting 53.3% from the field and 41.7% from beyond the 3-point arc on their way 40-29 1st half lead.
The 2nd half became a different story. With Bryson back in the game for the Cougars, Canyons slowly chipped away at the Citrus lead. Bryson score 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting to get Canyons back in the game.
With 2:36 left Bryson pulled the Cougars within 2 with a lay-up down low. On the very next play, Citrus’ Kevin McCaughey took the ball to the hoop, and was blocked by Bryson. Canyons’ Jacob Briggs grabbed the board and dished the ball to a streaking Dwayne Jones who hit a lay-up to tie the game up at 64.
On the ensuing possession Phil Friesen took the ball to the hoop only to get fouled. Friesen, who was held scoreless, missed the free-throw on a 1 and 1, and Canyons recovered and scored giving them their first lead of the game with 52 seconds to play. On the next Owls possession Deonta Black got fouled on his shot. Black hit both free-throws to tie the game back up at 66 with 38 seconds to play. That’s when Riney hit his jumper to put the Cougars up for good.
In the loss, Buchi Awaji led all Owls with 17 points and 5 boards. Deonta Black pitched in 16 points, while Chad Allan and Kevin McCaughey contributed season highs with 13 and 15 point apiece.
As a team the Fighting Owls shot 44.6% from the field and 25% from beyond the 3-point arc, including 34.6% and 8.3% shooting in the 2nd half. With the loss, the Citrus falls to 17-12 overall and 4-5 in WSC play. The Owls will be at home on Wednesday to face Glendale College with a 5:30 pm tip-off. Citrus defeated Glendale earlier in the year 69-61.