Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Orange Coast (1-4) | 38 | 29 | 67 |
|
Citrus (3-1) | 34 | 43 | 77 |
Glendora, CA -- For 38 minutes, the Citrus College Men's Basketball team, ranked #4 in the SoCal Coaches Pre-Season Poll, were outplayed by visiting Orange Coast College in the opening game of the 2013 Neil Edwards Classic. If you waited on the Owls though, good things came as Citrus took the lead for good with 2:06 remaining in a 77-67 victory.
Things started off poorly for the Owls as the Pirates punched Citrus in the mouth during the opening bell. Orange Coast started out with an 8-0 run and really controlled the first half. Citrus would briefly take a 25-24 lead after a pair of free-throws from freshman Justin Childress with 7:48 to go in the first half, but the Pirates closed out the half out-scoring Citrus 14-9 to go into the break up 38-34.
Not much changed to start out the second half. Citrus would tie things up at 48 all after sophomore Daniel Cheek hit the front end of two free throws, but Orange Coast quickly went back up by 8. The Owls would grab their first lead of the second half off a dunk by freshman Chris Reyes that made it 58-56 with just under nine to play. The Pirates found there way back on top though at 64-62 with 4:02 left in the game.
After Orange Coast extended their lead to three, Citrus closed out the game on a 15-2 run with 11 of those points courtesy of Reyes and freshman Dominique Walker who were both huge for the Owls down the stretch. Reyes would finish with a game high 20 points and game high 14 rebounds. Reyes also blocked six shots, while altering countless others, a new program record for blocks in a single game.
With the win, Citrus improves to 3-1 on the year. The Owls get little time to rest as they take on NorCal #3 Sierra College (2-2) tomorrow night at 6:00 PM in The Owls' Nest.
