Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball) -- Sophomore Jose Rivera put together one of his best overall performances of the season, scoring 12 points, grabbing a season and team high seven rebounds, dishing out three assists, swiping three steals, and blocking two shots in helping lead the Fighting Owls (13-2) past Oxnard 66-52 on Wednesday evening.
The Fighting Owls opened the game on fire, scoring the first 12 points of the game and grabbing a 12-0 lead after a Tom Granado fast break lay-up. Oxnard rallied to within four after a pair of James Ennis free-throws made the score 13-9. Citrus would answer with another lay-up by Granado, but that would be it for four minutes as the Fighting Owls failed to score between the 13 minute and 9 minute marks in the first half.
In the mean time, Oxnard kept chipping away at the Citrus lead eventually taking a two point advantage after a Ryan McLucas lay-up. Cam Nettles finally broke the Citrus drought though, when he tipped the ball in after his own miss tying the game back up at 17-17 with just over nine minutes to go. The teams would exchange leads once more, but a big three by Jerry Santos with 5:42 on the clock gave the Fighting Owls a 22-20 lead, a lead they wouldn’t give back for the remainder of the contest.
Citrus would go into the break leading by 11 points, and would only see their lead dip below double digits for the opening minutes of second half. Oxnard got to within eight points after a Gerald Pitts jumper, but back to back treys by Rivera put the lead back to double-digits, and the game was never in question the rest of the way.
Sophomore Randy Hunter would continue to do what he does best, scoring a team high 13 points and adding four rebounds, while fellow soph Keith Thompson chipped in with 11 points of his own.
Citrus actually had its worst shooting performance of the season in the win, as the Fighting Owls shot just 35.8% from the floor. Equally as disappointing was their effort from the charity stripe where they shot a season worst 43.8% from the free-throw line.
The Fighting Owls will take the next couple of days off before completing their non-conference schedule with a trip to LA Trade Tech on Saturday evening. Tip-off with the Beavers (7-4) is set for 7:00 PM.
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