Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball) -- Citrus College, the #1 ranked team in the state, needed 3-points in the final 30 seconds of their contest against #11 ranked Ventura, to squeek out a 56-53 victory over the visiting Pirates on Saturday night.
Citrus survived shooting just 28.3% from the field, 23.5% from beyond the 3-point arc, and 56.3% from the free-throw line, (easily their poorest shooting performance of the season) to pick up their seventh victory over a state ranked team this year.
The Pirates would open up the game with the first points of the contest after Ventura’s Dee Pinkard nailed a three off the opening tip. Ventura would hold onto the lead for a few minutes more, before Citrus’ Curtis Eatmon nailed a trey to give the Fighting Owls a 7-6 lead.
From there Citrus would hold onto the lead for the rest of the half, opening up a seven-point advantage after freshman Jose Rivera layed the ball up and in on a fast-break, giving the Fighting Owls a 27-20 lead with 3:58 left to play.
Ventura would battle back before the half was up, scoring the final six points of the half, including a thunderous dunk by Will Faiivae, tying the ball game up at 30-30 going into halftime.
To open up the second, both teams traded baskets, until Citrus went on a 9-1 run, capped off by a pair of Stephen Bennett free-throws that gave the Fighting Owls a 41-33 lead with 15:56 to go.
The Pirates would eventually claw back, tying the game up after a fast-break lay-up by Pinkard made the score 47-47. Citrus answered with four straight points, but Ventura rallied with five unanswered, taking their first lead since early in the game after a lay-up by Danny Benson gave the Pirates a 53-52 lead with 4:46 to play.
At that point, Citrus defense locked down, holding Ventura to 0 for 7 shooting in the final four minutes of the contest. With Citrus’ defense focused, the Fighting Owls got one of two free-throws from sophomore Zareh Zargaryan to tie the game up, and a fast-break jump shot from sophomore Justin Johnson with 36 seconds left and a free-throw with 13 seconds, to seal the deal.
In the win, Citrus was led by Johnson, who poured in a game high 15 points and added a season high 7 rebounds. For Ventura, Faiivae led the way with a team high 12 points and a team high 8 rebounds. Faiivae was also forced into 7 of Ventura’s 21 turnovers.
With the victory, Citrus improves to 16-3 overall, while Ventura falls to 15-5. The Fighting Owls will open up their 2009 Western State Conference South Division title defense on Wednesday when they travel to Canyons College (7-11) for a 5:00 PM tip-off.
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