Loud and Clear

San Marcos, CA - When the 2016 CCCAA SoCal Men's Basketball pairing were announced on Monday, the Owls knew that they would have a tall task ahead of them, being seeded #18 out of a possible 20 teams. The Owls made it loud and clear on Wednesday night at #15 Palomar that they weren't to be taken lightly as the defeated the host Comets 77-63. 

 The Owls would score the game's first six points getting a three from freshman Kenneth Cyprian and a 3-point play by sophomore Mark Williams, taking a lead they would never surrender. Palomar would finally get things going every so briefly scoring on their next two possessions, but a pair of free-throws by sophomore Jordan McNellys started a 9-1 run that saw Citrus build their lead to 17-5 after a three by McNellys with 14:26 to go. 

Palomar would get the Owl lead down to six points with just over seven minutes to go in the first half, but the Owls outscored the Comets 11-4 over the final seven minutes to go into the break leading Palomar 33-20. 

The Comets would try to get some momentum going at the start of the second half when they scored on their first two possessions, but a triple by sophomore Caleb Richey would jump start the Owls offense yet again, as they quietly pushed their lead to 24 after another Richey three made it 61-37 with 11:06 to go. From that point forward, Citrus lead never dipped below 13 points as they cruised to the 14 point victory.

Richey finished the game with a team high 17 points to go along with seven boards, six assists, and fours teals. Cyprian added 12, while Williams had 11. 

With the win, Citrus improves to 15-13 overall. The Owls will be back out on the road on Saturday when they take on #2 seed San Bernardino Valley College in San Bernardino at 7:00 PM.