Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball) -- Over the past three seasons, the Citrus College men’s basketball team has played in eight playoff games, including three at home. So Saturday night’s game against Victor Valley was nothing new for the Fighting Owls.
Though players have changed, one thing remained the same. They acted like they had been there before. They never panicked and just kept their foot on the gas all night long. The end result was a rather convincing 95-81 win over the visiting Rams, as they advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row.
Things didn’t start out so hot for the Fighting Owls, as the Rams opened up the contest by scoring six of the first eight points in the game. As a matter of fact, Citrus came up short on 7 of their first 8 shots from the floor.
A pair of free-throws Keith Thompson would finally get the Citrus offense moving again, as he followed it up with a lay-up and a jumper by Curtis Eatmon that gave the Fighting Owls their first and final lead of the night with the score at 8-6 in favor of Citrus.
At that point, Citrus would go on to score 25 of the next 31 points, taking an emphatic 21-point lead after a Troy Payne jumper in the paint made the score 33-12 with just under ten minutes to go in the first half.
Victor Valley would cut the lead 16 at the 6:22 mark, but Citrus continued to keep the Rams at a distance leading by as much as 23 points after a pair of Steven Bennett free-throws with 3:07 showing on the clock. Eventually Citrus settled in for a 20-point half-time lead.
Citrus would continue to do much of the same in the second half, extending their lead to as large as 28 points five minutes in after a trey by Bennett. The closest Victor Valley would get in the second half, would be 10 points (with 29 seconds left) when the game was all ready well out of hand.
In the win, Citrus was led by Bennett who scored a career high 25 points. Sophomore Troy Payne recorded his fourth double-double in the last five games with 12 points and 12 boards, while Kelly Johnson had a great all-around game with 7 rebounds, a game high 6 assists, and a game high 3 steals. For Victor Valley, Dwight Gordon had an excellent effort with 41 points on 14 of 18 shooting from the floor.
With the win, Citrus improves to 28-4 overall, while Victor Valley’s season ends with a 19-15 record. Thanks to the victory, the Fighting Owls will live to fight another day when they host the #7 seed Riverside City College next Saturday. The Tigers beat Citrus very early in the season 73-62. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.
Box Score