Glendora, CA (Men's Basketball) -- Citrus College sophomore Ralph Monday saved his best game for when it mattered the most, as his team and season high 23 points helped lead the Fighting Owls past LA City College on Saturday night. Citrus' 99-95 win propelled the Owls to the State Championship Tournament for the first time in program history.
While the Owls finished on top, it wasn't an easy road getting there, as the game featured six ties and seven lead changes. Citrus would jump out to the first lead, opening the game on a 10-2 run capped off by a jumper in the lane by Citrus' Jeremy Smith.
LA City quickly answered however, by scoring 16 of the next 22 points, taking the lead from the Owls after a fast break lay-up by LA City's James White made the score 18-16 in favor of the Cubs. From there City would continue to pull away from the Owls, leading by as much as 10 points after the Cub's Scott Sterling sank back to back free-throws after a technical on Citrus' bench.
With 4:01 showing on the clock, Citrus slowly but surely began to claw their way back into the game. Citrus' Darren Moore would score six straight points, to pull the Owls within four points of the LA City lead. On the next possession Moore stripped the ball from City's Sterling and sent a pass up the court to a streaking Smith. Smith took the ball and slammed it home drawing Citrus to within two points at 35-37 and the Citrus crowd on its feet.
Moments later Citrus would tie the ball game up at 37 all, after Citrus' Troy Payne grabbed an offensive board and put the ball right back up and in the hoop. City would finally answer when Sterling sank the back end of a pair of free-throws, but J.R. Buensuceso's pair of shots from the charity stripe with seconds left on the clock finally gave Citrus back the lead, as they went into the break up 39-38.
Citrus opened up the second half with a lay-up by Monday that pushed their lead to three points, but things quickly turned around as City answered with a 10-0 run capped off by a trey from Branden Fisher that made the score 48-41. Citrus would rally back to within in two points, but LA City kept the Owls at arms length running their lead to 11 points with 14:39 on the clock.
Despite the deficits, Citrus continued to battle. Trailing by four points with 9:13 on the clock, the Owls went on a 15-0 run book ended by free-throws and a jumper in the lane by Citrus' Moore. The Owls would hang on to their lead, but City slowly but surely chipped away at it.
With 2:00 minutes remaining, City pulled to within a point of the Citrus lead after a 3-pointer by Sterling made the score 77-78. Each team would then trade possessions with neither able to convert. Citrus finally broke the drought when the Owls' Buensuceso nailed a jumper in the lane that pushed Citrus' lead back to three points with 46 seconds to play.
Citrus would hang on to that lead for the next 30 seconds, holding a 3-point margin with 17 seconds showing on the clock after a pair of free-throws from AJ Gasporra. On the inbound, the Owls would foul Fisher and send him to the line for two. Fisher sank both pulling LA City to within one point. With Citrus getting the ball back, the Owls got the ball into the hands of their most reliable free-throw shooter Darren Moore.
City sent Moore to the line with 8 seconds showing on the clock and the Owls up by one (84-83). Despite his steady hand all year, Moore first shot fell short. His second was good though, and Citrus' lead was two points with just seconds left. With time running out City's Branden Fisher went the length of the court and hit a jumper under the basket with 2 seconds left that tied the game and sent it into overtime.
In the extra period, the Cubs would be the first to put points on the board, after a pair of free-throws by Fisher. Citrus came back on the very next play and hit a 3-pointer by AJ Gasporra that gave Citrus the lead back at 88-87. On the ensuing possession, Moore swiped yet another steal, and whipped around, drove up the court, and dished the ball off to Citrus' Payne. Payne drove under the basket and threw down a furious dunk, giving Citrus a four point lead.
From there Citrus never lost their lead again. City would pull to within a point of the Owls lead with 17 seconds to go, but Monday came through for Citrus nailing a pair of free-throws to give the Owls a three point cushion and eventually the win. Along with Monday, four other Citrus players finished with double-digit scoring nights. Moore chipped in 18 points, while Buensuceso added another 17. Buchi Awaji and Gasporra would round out the teams high scorers as they both added 12 points a piece.
With the win Citrus' record improves to 32-1 overall, as they advance to the program's first ever State Championship Tournament. The tournament, which takes place over three days in Stockton, pits the top four teams from the South versus the top four teams from the North. Since Citrus was named the #1 overall seed in the SoCal Playoffs, they will face the lowest ranked team from the North. Citrus will likely face the College of the Sequoias Friday March 14th at the University of the Pacific. Stay tuned to the Citrus website for updates on game times.
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