Held Back

Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Men's Basketball team was held to a season low one three pointer and was held back on the glass getting outrebounded by seven. The result, was a 68-77 loss to visiting College of the Canyons in what basically ended the Owls hopes of claiming their fifth WSC South title in the last six years.

Canyons jumped out on the Owls early, running out to an 19-8 lead. The Cougars would keep their lead around double digits, until Citrus used a mini run late to cut it to five with 2:54 to go, only to have Canyons push it back to seven 31-24 headed into the break.

In the second half, the Owls charged hard out of the gate, scoring nine of the first 11 points of the half to tie the game up at 33 all after a lay-up from sophomore Brent Watkins. The game stayed tight for practically the remainder of the contest, with Citrus even briefly taking the lead 44-43 after another Watkins score in the paint.

It wouldn't get much better than that though, as Citrus never led again. The Owls would have their deficit be as little as three points, with 2:59 to go, but the Cougars made plays down the stretch and went 9 for 12 at the charity stripe in the waning moments to seal the win.

In the loss, Citrus was led by sophomore Kerry Carters 14 points. Sophomore Jordan Mackie added 12, while Watkins chipped in 10.

With the loss, Citrus falls to 11-8 on the year and 4-3 in WSC South play. Citrus has three games remaining on it's regular season schedule, and all three have now become very important. If Citrus is to make the post-season they'll need to win out and have a strong showing in the WSC South Tournament. Their first chance comes Saturday when they travel to LA Valley College for a 3:00 PM tip.