Glendale, CA (Men’s Basketball) -- Citrus Sophomore Tyree Harrison tipped the ball back up and in as the clock expired on Wednesday night giving the Owls the victory in their conference opener. The Owls nearly gave up a 15 point first half lead, before hanging on with the 78-76 win over Glendale College.
The Owls started the game off strong scoring 12 of the first 14 points of the contest. Sophomore Brandon Parga jump started the whole contest with a jumper which eventually led to the 12-2 opening run. Harrison closed out the run with a jumper of his own putting Citrus up by 10 with 13:05 left in the first half.
Glendale would claw back into things, dropping the Citrus lead to five points around the six minute mark, but the Owls scored 16 of the final 23 points of the half to take a seemingly commanding 42-27 lead into the break.
After the Vaqueros were held to just 38.7% shooting from the floor in the first half, their offense exploded in the second as they shot 54.1% from the floor including going 4 of 6 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Citrus’ lead in the second half briefly ballooned to 20 points, but Glendale’s offense then came around. The Vaqueros cut significantly into the lead getting it down to five with just over five minutes to play. The Owls pushed their lead back to nine after a free-throw by Harrison and big three ball from Parga that made it 72-63.
Still Glendale fought back. The Vaqueros got it back down to five, and eventually two with 50 seconds to play. On Citrus’ next possession Harrison found his way into the paint for a dunk to push the lead back to four, but Glendale answered with a lay-up and then after turning Citrus over another lay-up that tied the game up at 76-76 with 18 seconds to go.
After a 30 second timeout, the Owls came out of the huddle and went to their leading scorer Parga. Parga’s shot rimmed in and out, but Harrison was positioned just right for the rebound and tip-in as time expired.
In the win, the Owls were led by Parga’s game high 24 points. Harrison added 11 points and five rebounds, while sophomore James Walker and freshman Kerry Carter rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 and 12 points respectively.
With the win, Citrus improves to 14-1 on the year and 1-0 in Western State Conference South division play. The Owls will host their conference home opener on Saturday when they play host to College of the Canyons. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.
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