Santa Monica, CA (Men’s Basketball) – Three short years ago, Citrus College men’s basketball Head Coach Rick Croy took over a basketball program that had little to no cred when it came to Southern California community college basketball. In its previous ten seasons prior to Croy’s arrival, the Fighting Owls had just three winning seasons and no playoff appearances.
Since then however, Croy has revitalized the Fighting Owls. He has posted winning seasons in each of his first three seasons, and even took last year’s squad to its first post-season berth in twenty years. Tonight Croy can add another impressive line to his resume, as the 2007-2008 Fighting Owls clinched their first ever WSC South Championship, and first program conference championship in 25 years, as they knocked off Santa Monica 75-65 Wednesday evening.
On a night that ended up being about team accomplishments it was only fitting that they conference championship clenching night came on a night, that no individual Citrus player stood out and that they put forth one of their best team defensive efforts of the season in the first half.
Only one Citrus player scored in double-digits (Nate Richardson 10 points), while all 11 Owls that hit the floor scored at least five points a piece. Added to that, was the outstanding defensive effort put forth by Citrus in the first half of play. In the first half alone, the Fighting Owls gave up just 15 points, allowed 23.8% shooting from the floor, and out-rebounded the Corsair’s by a wide margin (26-9).
With their defense as stingy as every, the Fighting Owls offense was just as explosive as it always is. Citrus opened up the game on an 11-2 run, after jumpers by Darren Moore and Richard Frohlich, a three-ball from Jeremy Smith, a tip-in by Troy Payne, and back to back free-throws from Richardson.
Santa Monica would crawl back to within seven points of the Citrus lead, but the Owls took off on yet another run, scoring 20 of the next 24 points capped off by a trey from Stephen Bennet. When all was said and done in their dominating first half, the Owls had a 37-15 lead going into the locker-room after Ralph Monday closed the half with a monster dunk in the lane.
In the second half, Citrus would pick up right where they left off in the first, pushing their lead to as large as 26 points with 4:42 to play in the game. After holding the Corsairs to just 15 points in the first half, the Citrus defense began to wear down in the final four minutes of the contest.
Santa Monica made a huge move over the final four minutes, as the Corsairs nailed seven of their final ten shots from beyond the 3-point arc. Santa Monica sophomore guard Noah Gotlieb kick started the rally when he swished a three-pointer, cutting the lead to 23 points with 4:20 on the clock. Gotlieb’s three was followed by three straight treys from freshman Ryan Avilez, and yet another from sophomore Kevian Cross, that left Citrus with just a 13-point lead with under two minutes to play.
Despite the fire-storm from beyond the 3-point arc, the Fighting Owls never lost their cool, hitting crucial free-throws down the stretch to keep Santa Monica at bay. Santa Monica’s Gotlieb would finish the game with a game high 26 points in the loss.
With the win Citrus’ record moves to 28-1 overall and a perfect 10-0 in WSC South play. Despite having wrapped up their first ever WSC Championship, Citrus still has two conference games left on their slate, neither of which will be a walk in the park.
The Fighting Owls will hit the road for Saturday’s match-up with third place Glendale, before closing the regular season at home next Saturday for a game with second place Bakersfield. Citrus took the first meeting of the year with Glendale, as they beat the Vaqueros 92-80 at home in the Owl’s Nest. Saturday’s game is set for 7:30 PM.
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