High Wire to Wire

Glendora, CA - The Citrus College Men's Basketball team would hold the lead against visiting West Los Angeles College on Wednesday night for all but 85 seconds. It wasn't always easy though as Citrus nearly let an 18 point lead evaporate in the second half, in what ended up a 85-73 victory for the Owls.

The two teams would trade salvos in the opening minutes. The Owls took a 3-0 lead thanks to a free-throw by sophomore Mark Williams and a jumper by sophomore Caleb Richey. West LA would get on the board on their next possession, but sophomore Jordan McNellys came back with a jumper to make it 5-2. On West LA's next trip down the floor, the Wildcats tied the game up for the first time with a triple, before getting a stop and coming back down and hitting another for their first and only lead 8-5. Citrus would answer back with a three from Richey and then a fast-break dunk by Wiley to go back up 10-8, regaining the lead for good.

Richey's three and Wiley's dunk would jump start an 11-0 run by the Owls. Citrus' lead would vacillate between 8-12 points for the next 10 minutes. It was the bench who would permanently push Citrus' lead into double-digits for the remainder of the half, thanks to a small 9-0 run capped by back to back three's from sophomore Jeriko Santos that made it 34-17. Citrus would keep their lead around there, heading into halftime up 15, 44-29.

Out of the break, things looked like they would continue their way when Richey was fouled on a 3-point attempt and then hit all three free-throws. Things went South quickly after that though, as West LA went on a 17-2 run to pull within two at 47-49 with 12:59 to go. The Owls would break the drought finally thanks to a triple from freshman Donn-Christian Corbin and a layup by sophomore Mark Williams, but at that point the game was on. West LA would get their deficit down to a single possession three different occasion over the final 12 plus minutes of play. Citrus kept the Wildcats at bay though, getting a late three from McNellys and six straight free-throws from Richey, McNellys, and freshman Kenneth Cyprian to seal the game late.

In the win, the Owls were led by Williams' team high 16 points to go along with a game high 12 rebounds. Richey added 15 and McNellys 14, while Wiley had nine and matched Williams' 12 rebounds.

With the win, Citrus gets back to .500 for the first time since December. The Owls improve to 10-10 overall and 4-3 in WSC South play. Citrus kicks-off the second half of WSC South play on Saturday when they travel to division leading Bakersfield College for a 5:00 PM showdown.