Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball) -- During last season’s State Championship run for the Citrus College men’s basketball team, only one team stood in the way of the Fighting Owls and a perfect regular season record, Antelope Valley College.
Although it’s a new season and only three players have returned from last years 35-1 Citrus team, there was a bit of revenge on the mind of the Fighting Owls as they played host to the visiting Marauders on Tuesday night. Citrus got exactly what it wanted as it sent Antelope Valley home with a 92-69 loss.
The Fighting Owls wasted little time in taking over the game. With the game knotted up at four a piece, Citrus went on a 10-0 run that gave the Owls their first double-digit lead of the night after a fast break lay-up by Zareh Zargaryan gave Citrus a 14-4 lead.
Antelope Valley would cut the lead to seven with just over 12 minutes remaining in the first half, but Citrus scored nine unanswered points, all by different players, that gave the Owls a 16-point 27-11 lead with 9:40 to play. Citrus would keep their lead around that, until the half when it settled in for a 14 point advantage at the break.
Citrus would open up the second half with a baseline dunk by Curtis Eatmon, that kick started the Fighting Owls for the final 20 minutes of play. The closest the Marauders would get in the second half would be at the 16:33 mark, when a conventional three point play by Antelope Valley’s Aaron Henson cut the Citrus lead to 12 points.
The Fighting Owls quickly responded however, as they scored 14 of the next 20 points, bookmarked by a three-pointer from sophomore Zareh Zagaryan that pushed the Fighting Owl lead to 21. From there, their lead never fell below 15 points, as Citrus cruised to a 23 point victory.
In the win, Citrus was led by sophomore Justin Johnson, who scored a game high 20 points on 9 of 12 shooting from the field. Sophomore Zareh Zargaryan had one of his most complete games to date, as he filled the stat sheet scoring a season high 13 points, grabbing 6 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists, and nabbing 2 steals.
For Antelope Valley, Rod Singleton had a team high 18 points, while Kyisean Reed added 17 points and 5 boards.
With the win, Citrus improves to 7-0 overall, while Antelope Valley falls to 4-5. The Fighting Owls will take the next few days off for the Thanksgiving holiday, before coming back on Friday to host the Neil Edwards Classic Tournament. Citrus’ first round opponent will be East LA (4-2). Tip-off is set for 1:00 PM. For a full bracket of the tournament click on the Neil Edwards link on the front page of the Men’s Basketball site.
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