Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball) – The Citrus College men’s basketball team got one of their best performances of the year from their 6-foot 9-inch sophomore center from Oldendorf, Germany, as Richard Frohlich poured in 10 points on 5 of 5 shooting and ripped down a team high 8 rebounds in the Fighting Owls’ 84-65 win over #17 Santa Monica College.
Citrus College set the pace early on, by going down low to Frohlich on its first two possessions of the game. Frohlich took advantage and converted on both attempts, making a nice low-post move for a lay-up on the first, and nailing a jumper in the lane on the second.
Despite jumping out to a 4-0 lead, the Owls were caught off guard over the next five minutes as Santa Monica turned the tables on Citrus, with a 14-2 run, capped off by a Noah Gotlieb lay-up that made the score 14-6. Just seconds later things began to turn back around in Citrus’ favor as Buchi Awaji and AJ Gasporra nailed back to back 3-pointers, both off of Stephen Bennet assists, to pull within four points.
Citrus would finally grab the lead back with 9:20 left to play in the first half, when sophomore J.R. Buensuceso made a circus-like jumper in the lane while getting fouled. Buensuceso would hit the ensuing free-throw for a 3-point turnaround that gave the Owls a 2-point 22-20 lead. Santa Monica would tie the game up twice more before Citrus closed the half with a 18-7 run that ended with a Frohlich tip-in off a Buensuceso miss, giving Citrus a 44-32 lead going into half-time.
With a secure 12-point lead at the break, the Fighting Owls continued to push their lead in the second half, leading by as much as 21 points after Frohlich hit yet another jumper in the lane with just over nine minutes to play. Santa Monica would cut the lead to 13 points with 3:38 left to play, but the Owls answered with five straight points including another fantastic 3-point play by Buensuceso before settling in for their 19 point victory.
Darren Moore led all Citrus scorers with 18 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the floor, and fell just one board shy of Frohlich with 7 rebounds of his own. As a team the Fighting Owls shot 47.7% from the field, and out-rebounded the Corsairs by a margin of 41-31.
With the win, the Fighting Owls improve to 22-1 on the season and 4-0 in WSC South play. With five of the six WSC South teams ranked in the JCHoops.com top 20, there will be no rest for the weary as the #1 ranked Fighting Owls play host to yet another top 20 team as #16 Glendale comes calling on Wednesday evening. Tip-off is set for 7:30 PM.
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