Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball)-- With a trip to Fresno, CA, for the 2009 California Community College Athletic Association State Championships on the line, Riverside City College ended Citrus’ season with a 72-71 victory over the defending State Champs. Riverside led from wire to wire, as Citrus struggled shooting all night long, shooting just 32.8% from the floor, including a 29.4% out-put in the first half.
The Tigers wasted little time in Saturday’s game, punching Citrus right in the mouth from the get go. The Tigers scored the first 6 points of the game and never looked back, using an aggressive defense to keep the Fighting Owls from getting into any kind of offensive rhythm.
Riverside’s biggest lead of the half would be a 14-point margin with just under a minute to play, but a 3-point play by Citrus’ Nate Gibbs, followed by a jumper by RCC’s Deondrae Lewis would give the Tigers a 13 point advantage at the half.
Things didn’t get much better for Citrus in the second, as Riverside opened up their lead to 16 points at 17:30 mark, but the Fighting Owls never gave up, and slowly climbed their way back into the game.
A 16-2 run by Citrus over a five minute span midway through the second half, would get them back to with-in one after a lay-up by Zareh Zargaryan, but RCC promptly responded with a seven unanswered points to push their lead back to eight points.
Citrus clawed back again getting two within two after a jumper in the lane by Justin Johnson, but again Riverside had a run, this time scoring six straight. With 1:58 left on the clock, the Tigers held an eight point lead, and had knocked Citrus back down with every run they took.
The Fighting Owls had one final run left in them, getting to within three points of Riverside after a trey from Jose Rivera with 21 seconds left made the score 68-71. Needing a stop Citrus got just that as Troy Payne stole the ball on an in bounds pass from RCC’s Donovan Bufford, giving the Owls a chance to tie the game up.
Payne took the ball and found a wide open Justin Johnson behind the 3-point arc, but Johnson’s shot rolled of the rim. Payne grabbed the offensive board, and got the ball back out to Johnson again, but again Johnson’s shot fell short.
Payne got yet another rebound and this time went back up with the ball, but his shot wouldn’t go and Riverside’s David Norris secured the rebound with two seconds left. Norris would get fouled and hit one of his two free-throws, and Troy Payne would make a three-quarter court shot at the buzzer for the final score.
In the loss, Citrus was led by Johnson who scored a game high 16 points, while Riverside’s Jovan Bryant came off the bench to score a team high 12 points all off 3-pointers.
With the loss, Citrus finishes with a record of 28-5, the second best mark in school history, second only to last seasons State Championship finish.
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