Culver City, CA (Men’s Basketball) – The Citrus College Fighting Owls moved a step closer to posting their best mark in almost 30 years as it got its 19th win of the year against West Los Angeles College Wednesday night. In the win the Fighting Owls smothered the Princeton style offense of the Oilers, and showed no love on Valentines Night with a 85-65 victory.
The Fighting Owls kicked things off with a bang as they took a lead in the opening seconds and never looked back. By the ten minute mark Citrus had built an 11 point lead, as each team would trade baskets for the next 8 minutes. At the two minute mark the Owls would close out the first half with a 6-0 run capped off by a Kevin McCaughey lay-up with 4 seconds to play, and they would take a 16 point 41-25 lead into halftime. In that 1st half Citrus shot 48.3% from the floor and 44% from beyond the 3-point arc. The Owls also forced 11 Oiler turnovers compared to Citrus’ 6.
The second half proved to be much of the same for the Fighting Owls as they went on an 18-9 run over 5 minutes starting at the 15 minute mark. During that stretch the Owls were up by as much as 27 points. West LA would go on their own 11-0 run, but the Owls stopped the bleeding with a Deonta Black jumper in the lane to push their lead back to 20 points. When all was said and done the Owls finished off the Oilers for a 85-65 conference victory.
The Fighting Owls dominated the points in the middle, outscoring West LA 36-14 in the paint. Citrus was also bolstered by the play of their bench, where they got 33 points compared to West LA’s 14. The Owls were led by Deonta Black who had a game high 19 points, while Phil Friesen recorded a game high 11 boards to go along with his 12 points. The Fighting Owls shot 56.9% from the field for the game and a blazing 50% from the 3-point line.
With the win Citrus improves to 19-12, and is only one win away from its first 20 win season in over a decade. Citrus, who also moves to 6-5 in WSC South play, has its last regular season game of the year as they play host to Santa Monica College on Saturday night. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.