Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball) – Two days after leading the Fighting Owls in a rout of West LA College, Citrus’ two top scorers were at again Saturday night as Buchi Awaji and Darren Moore led the Fighting Owls to a 92-74 victory over #15 LA Valley College Saturday night. Awaji poured in a game high 26 points, while Moore added 23 for Citrus’ 15th straight win.
The Fighting Owls wasted no time in jumping all over the Monarchs, racing to a 20-6 lead through the first seven minutes of the contest. Citrus capped off the run with a fast break dunk in the lane by Moore off a J.R. Buensuceso assist.
Valley would try to cut into the Citrus lead, drawing to within 9-points on two separate occasions in the first half, but the Owls always had an answer, first with a dunk on a put-back by Awaji and the next time with a trey from Awaji. Citrus would go into the half with a 13-point 51-38 lead after sophomore center Richard Frohlich got a tip-in to fall as time expired.
In the second half, the Owls would pick up right where they left jumping out to a lead as large as 14 points with just over 13 minutes to go. With Citrus leading 62-48, Valley made one last move using a 9-2 run over three minutes to pull with in seven points of the Fighting Owl lead. Once again Awaji and Moore came to the rescue, as Awaji answered by nailing two triples, and Moore a mid-range jumper pushing their lead back to double-digits.
Valley would make one more run late in the game, when a Gino Riney three pointer made the game 79-70, with Citrus holding a slim nine point lead, but Citrus closed the game with a 13-2 run, to win by 18 points.
While Awaji led the way in scoring, Moore added to his resume by recording his first double-double of the season, grabbing a season and game high 15 rebounds along with his 23 points. Freshman guard Steven Bennet rounded out the game leaders by coming off the bench to dish out a game high six assists.
Citrus, rated #1 in Southern California by JCHoops.com, will hit the road for their next two contests, before coming home in two weeks to finish regular season play on February 23rd. The first of their two road games comes on Wednesday February 13th as they travel to Santa Monica for a 7:30 PM match-up. It will be the second meeting of the year for these two schools, as Citrus won at home 84-65 back on January 19th.
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