Thousand Oaks, CA (Men’s Basketball) -- The Citrus College Men’s Basketball team, led #4 Saddleback for 39 minutes and 46 seconds in the CCCAA State Semi-Finals. Just like that though, in the blink of an eye, that lead was gone, as Saddleback’s Kyle Wallace hit the back end of a pair of free-throws with 14 seconds left in the game, that gave the Gauchos a 55-54 win over Citrus, ending the Fighting Owls’ season.
In what was a hard fought game throughout, Citrus led from the beginning. The Fighting Owls led by as much as 8 points in the first half and 10 with 13:23 to go in the game. Despite the Citrus advantage, the Fighting Owls were never able to get comfortable as Saddleback imposed their hard nosed defensive style ,never allowing Citrus to get into an offensive rhythm.
Citrus shot just 33.3% from the floor in the game, and it showed down the stretch. The Fighting Owls made just two field goals in the final eight minutes of the game. Trailing by eight with just under eight minutes to go, Saddleback made their move, tying the game up at 51-51 after a Perry Webster trey with two minutes to go.
Citrus responded with a 3-point play by Keith Thompson that pushed their lead back to three points. That would be Citrus’ last points though, as Saddleback got a jumper and two of four free-throws down the stretch to cover the Citrus advantage and Gaucho victory. Saddleback would go on to defeat San Francisco City on Sunday to win the State Title.
In the loss, Citrus was led by Keith Thompson who scored a team high 12 points and Randy Hunter who added nine and a team high 11 rebounds. Hunter was named the All-Tournament team on Sunday for his efforts in Citrus’ two games.
Despite the disappointing finish, the Fighting Owls have nothing to be ashamed of. Citrus went 29-3 this season, arguably the second greatest season in program history. Along with the 29 wins, the Fighting Owls captured their third straight WSC South title this season, an unprecedented mark the program.
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