Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball) -- Freshman Keith Thompson took off and soared to new heights on Saturday night, scoring a game high 22 points and grabbing a game high 9 boards, in helping lead Citrus to a convincing 93-77 win over visiting Canyons College.
Despite ending up on the wrong side of the scoreboard, Canyons would come out of the gate as the aggressor, scoring 6 of the first 8 points of the game, taking an 8-2 lead after a trey by Jason Holzwarth and lay-up by Eric Brown.
Citrus quickly responded with a 11-2 run, grabbing the lead from the Cougars after back to back lay-ups by Kelly Johnson and Troy Payne made the score 13-10. Canyons would tie the game back up a few seconds later, but Citrus had another run in them, scoring 15 unanswered points and taking a 28-13 lead after Jose Rivera nailed a 3-pointer with 10:47 to go.
Citrus would continue on that path throughout the rest of the first half, building their lead to as large as 18 points after a three by Terrance Reaves, before eventually settling in for a 13-point 50-37 lead at the half.
Things didn’t get much better for the Cougars in the second half, as Citrus maintained a double-digit lead throughout. Canyons did pull to within 10 points of the Fighting Owl lead with 16:25 to go, but Citrus answered with an 18-4 run allowing them to cruise with a comfortable lead down the stretch.
Along with Thompson, sophomore Justin Johnson continued to stake his claim as the best player in the conference, with 14 points and a team high 6 assists, while Troy Payne added 11 more points, 3 blocks, 3 assists, and 2 steals.
With the win, Citrus improves to 22-4 overall and 6-1 in WSC South Division play, while Canyons falls to 9-16 overall and 2-5 in conference play. Citrus will hit the road next week for back to back road games, starting with a trip to West LA (13-13, 3-4) on Wednesday. Tip-off is set for 5:00 PM.
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