Payback

Glendora, CA -- Less than a week after El Camino College-Compton Center, knocked the Citrus College Men's Basketball team out of the Riverside Holiday Tournament, the Owls got to return the favor and got some payback on Tuesday evening when they hosted the Tartars. Citrus had one of its best offensive performances to date as they defeated visiting Compton 91-71.

The game started off just like the Owls would hope as freshman Justin Childress buried a trey at the top of the key on Citrus' very first possession. The Owls looked sharp during the first four minutes of play, scoring 16 points in that stretch and jumping out to an 11 point lead moments later when freshman John Roach hit a midrange jumper to make it 18-7 with 14 minutes left in the first half.

Compton wasn't going to lay down though as they mucked things up for the Owls forcing them into 1 for 8 shooting over the next five minutes and five turnovers in that same span. Before Citrus could blink Compton had taken the lead for the first time up 21-20 with 8:32 to go in the first half of play.

Citrus didn't panic though, and pounded the ball inside to freshman Chris Reyes who was hacked and sent to the line where he buried both free-throws. After Compton answered to go back up by one, the Owls came back down the floor and got a big three pointer from Childress to put the Owls back up by two and giving Citrus the lead back for good.

The Tartars would try to keep things close, but the Owls closed out the half on a 18-7 run. All the fun was kick started by the three ball from Childress and ended when Reyes had a thunderous dunk on a fast-break that made it 45-30 with 1:09 left in the half.

In the second half, Citrus' lead was mostly safe. The Owls built up an 16 point lead twice in the first seven minutes getting a three from Jordan Jefferson to make it 62-46 with 13:59 to go, and then 64-48 after another fast break dunk by Reyes with 13:23 on the clock.

Compton had one last run in them though as they whittled the lead all the way down to eight twice around the 10 minute mark, but Citrus quickly rallied to push the lead back to double digits hitting a game high 23 points after a crowd pleasing throw down by Polee Jr. with 5:44 left.

In the win, Citrus was paced by Reyes who scored a game high 21 points. Polee Jr. and Jefferson each added 13, while Roach had 11. Childress had one of his better games for Citrus as well, scoring 12 points, grabbing five rebounds, and handing out a game high five assists.

With the win, Citrus improves to 6-4 on the year. The Owls will take time off until after Christmas when they travel to nearby Mt. San Antonio College for a non-conference contest on Saturday December 28th at 5:00 PM.