Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball) -- Citrus College freshman Kerry Carter had his best game of the season, and the Owls rallied from their third straight halftime deficit to pick up a 98-84 win at home against Glendale College on Saturday night. Carter scored a season high 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the floor and grabbed seven boards in helping lead the Owls to the victory.
The Owls started off well enough hitting five of their first six shots from the field, but interspersed in that were an unusual amount of turnovers that allowed Glendale to keep it close, and eventually grab control of the lead once Citrus went cold.
At that point, Glendale took over using a nearly five minute scoreless stretch for the Owls into a 13 point first half lead. Sophomore point guard Nolan Abernathy finally broke the drought with a layup with 4:46 to go; a shot that sparked an 11-4 run that got the Vaquero lead down to six after another Abernathy lay in.
The two teams would trade baskets over the final few minutes, with Citrus freshman Kendrick Thomas tipping the ball back up and in at the buzzer to cut the Glendale lead to seven at the break. The Owls allowed Glendale to shoot 57.9% from the floor in the first half as they went into halftime trailing 51-44.
Glendale would score the first basket out of the break, but Citrus responded with a 12-0 run that was kick-started by a layup off the hands of Thomas and book ended by a jumper in the paint from Carter and moments later a thunderous dunk from Carter that made it 56-53 Citrus.
The Vaqueros would briefly take the lead back with 15:23 to go, but the Owls scored eight unanswered points to go back up six 64-58 with 13:27 to go. From that point forward Citrus would never relinquish their lead.
The Owls’ lead would reach 10 points with 7:54 left after a trey from Abernathy. Glendale would get it back down to five twice over the next couple of minutes, but the Owls received a big three from Parga late, and the Owls went nine of ten from the charity stripe in the final minutes to ice the victory.
In the win, Citrus was led by Carter who added three assists, a block, and a pair of steals. Sophomore James Walker scored a game high 23 points for the Owls, while Parga added 20. Thomas had his third straight double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds (seven offensive, seven defensive), and freshman point guard Brandon Woods handed out a game high eight assists against zero turnovers.
With the win, Citrus improves to 20-1 on the year and 7-0 in Western State Conference South Division play. The Owls will travel to Santa Clarita on Wednesday and take on College of the Canyons. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.
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