Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball) – Citrus freshman guard, AJ Gasporra came off the bench to score a team high 19 points in just 19 minutes of play to help lead the Fighting Owls to their tenth straight win, a 92-80 WSC South victory over Glendale College on Wednesday night. Citrus shot just 22.2% from beyond the 3-point arc in the win, but made up for it by nailing 30 of their 37 shots from the charity stripe (81.1%) for their second best effort from the free-throw line of the year.
The Fighting Owls would lead wire to wire, with Glendale only tying the game up once, when Glendale’s Curtis Leslie’s jumper in the lane made the score 2-2 with just under 18 minutes to play in the first half. Despite Citrus’ dominating the lead, the Vaqueros would keep it close throughout the first part of the first half.
With Citrus leading by just four points, Gasporra would light a fire under the Owls igniting a 16-6 run. Gasporra got things going, by swiping the ball from the hands of Glendale’s Zareh Zargaryan, and taking the ball the full length of the court and laying it up and in despite being fouled.
Gasporra would complete the three point play, and with that off went Citrus on their run. Citrus’ lead would grow to 15 points in the first half, but a 10-3 run by the Vaqueros to close out the half, would leave the Owls up by just 8-points going into the locker room.
Glendale would open up the second half with all the momentum from their closing run still on their side. The Vaqueros would move to within three points of the Citrus lead, but the Fighting Owls quickly answered with a Darren Moore lay-up off of a Buchi Awaji assist. Minutes later however, Glendale would move back to within four points of the Citrus lead.
With 16:52 still showing on the clock, Gasporra kick started yet another Citrus run. This time Gasporra drained another shot while being fouled. After hitting the ensuing free-throw, the Owls would go on a 13-6 run that pushed the Citrus lead back into double-digits at 70-59. From that point forward, their lead would never fall into single digits, as they settled in for their fifth conference victory of the season.
While Gasporra led the team with his 19 points, sophomore Darren Moore finished just behind him with 17 points. Freshman Troy Payne grabbed a game high 9 rebounds, while Buchi Awaji contributed a team best 3 assists. The Fighting Owls would dominate almost every category as they beat out the Vaqueros in points off turnovers (24-10), second chance points (22-12), and bench points (41-20).
With the win Citrus improves to 23-1 on the season and 5-0 in WSC South play. The Fighting Owls will be off on Saturday, but returns to the hardwood next Wednesday January 30th for a trip to Bakersfield, CA. Citrus will take on the Renegades of Bakersfield College for a match-up of the only two undefeated teams in WSC South play thus far. Tip-off is set for 7:30 PM.
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