Glendale, CA (Men’s Basketball) – There's a saying in athletic circles that “big players make big plays.” In Wednesday’s night’s game at Glendale College, there was no bigger player, literally, on the floor than the Fighting Owls’ 6 foot 10 inch 265 pound center Tom Granado. Granado proved just how big he is, metaphorically, as his lay-up with three seconds left on the clock would prove to be the difference maker in Citrus’ 76-74 win over Glendale College.
Things started off well enough for the Fighting Owls, as they scored eight of the first ten points of the contest, taking an 8-2 lead after a Keith Thompson trey. Glendale would prove to be a pesky opponent though, tying the game up at 18-18 with 8:45 to go in the first.
Citrus followed that up with a 9-0 run that was capped off by a fast break lay-up by De’Andre Haskins that gave Citrus a 30-21 lead, but again Glendale battled back using a 3-pointer by Deonte Wyatt to draw to within six points of the Fighting Owls at the break.
In the second half, Glendale kept pecking away at the Citrus lead, tying the game up on a Ebrahimian jumper and then taking the first lead of the contest after Corey Davis’ lay-up made the score 46-44 with 13:30 to go. From that point forward the score would be tied up on 10 different occasions and the lead changed seven different times.
Citrus would seemingly finally grab a hold of the lead after a free-throw from Keith Thompson and a pair of charity stripe shots from Donnel Phifer gave Citrus a 66-63 advantage with 4:48 to go. The Fighting Owls would increase that lead to six points, but again Glendale came storming back taking the lead back after a three by Daniel Palmer, jumper in the paint by Ebrahimian and three pointer by Wyatt that gave Glendale a 74-73 lead.
After a turnover on the other end of the floor by Citrus, Glendale had a chance to stretch their lead even further but Wyatt missed on a fade away trey and Citrus pushed the issue down the floor as Hakeem Washington went to the rack and got fouled. Washington made the first, but missed the second leaving the game tied up at 74-74.
On the ensuing Glendale possession, Citrus clamped down defensively, forcing the Vaqueros into a turnover when Lucian Franklin threw the ball out of bounds with the shot clock expiring. With the shot clock dead and 27 seconds left on the clock Citrus wanted to get the last shot off of the game.
With seven seconds left the Fighting Owls made their move, dumping the ball down into the right hand corner and into the hands of Jose Rivera who found a wide open Tom Granado underneath the basket. Granado went straight up got fouled, and the lay-up fell through the basket giving Citrus a 76-74 lead. Granado’s free-throw would rim in and out, and Glendale would eventually control the ball with two seconds left.
After Glendale called a time out, they inbounded the ball and Corey Davis was forced into a nearly three-quarter court shot that hit on the backboard to the right of the rim as time expired, preserving the Citrus victory.
In the win, Citrus was led by De’Andre Haskins who scored a team high 13 points and also grabbed seven rebounds. Keith Thompson would add a game high eight rebounds, while Granado finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
With the win, Citrus claims their third straight out-right championship. No team can catch the Fighting Owls with two games left. Citrus’ record improves to 24-2 overall and a perfect 10-0 in WSC South play, while Glendale falls to 13-12 overall and 4-5 in conference games.
Citrus will take the weekend off before closing out regular season play with two games next week. The first game will be Citrus’ final regular season home game on Wednesday February 17 against West LA (3-17, 1-8). Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.
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