A Test of Character

Glendora, CA -- It's been said that if you want to test someone's character, you can do so by seeing how they respond to adversity. The Citrus College Men's Basketball team got such a test on Wednesday night in their WSC South opener against Santa Monica, and fortunately for the Owls they passed, as they won a back and forth game, that turned into an instant classic, 67-64.

Things started off well enough for the Owls against the #12 ranked Corsairs. Citrus scored the first two baskets of the contest, and led 7-4 a little less than four minutes into the game. Things started to go South for Citrus around the 15:52 mark though, when Santa Monica grabbed its first lead of the game 8-7.  What was once a three point lead for Citrus quickly turned into a nine point lead for the Corsairs as they went on a big 12-0 run.

The Owls would do their best to keep it close over the remainder of the first half. A three from freshman Justin Childress tied the game up at 16-16 with 7:43 to go, and a jumper from freshman Jordan Jefferson with 5:54 left briefly gave Citrus the lead back. That lead didn't last for long though, as Santa Monica closed out the first have on an 11-0 run and went into the break up 35-25.

In the first few possessions of the second half, it looked like things would stay the same. Santa Monica took what would be the largest lead by either team of the night, on their first possession when they scored to go up 12. Despite the large hole, Citrus just never seemed fazed. The Owls slowly worked their way back into the game, grinding Santa Monica on defense and picking its spots offensively.

It didn't happen all at once for Citrus though, as it took multiple runs to finally take the lead back. The first run by the Owls saw Citrus pull to within one after a pair of free-throws from freshman Chris Reyes and a jumper from freshman John Roach that made it 48-49 with 11:06 to go. Santa Monica answered by scoring four straight buckets to push their lead back to nine.

Citrus again slowly ate away at the Corsair advantage pulling to within one again at 62-63 after a promising small 6-0 run that included a tip-in and a pair of free-throws from Reyes and a jumper from sophomore Daniel Cheek. After that, it was a long drought by both teams. Santa Monica had a number of opportunities to push their lead back up, but the Owls defense came up with a number of big stops. Conversely, Citrus had chances to take the lead, but missed two shots and had a pair of turnovers on four straight possessions.

The Owls never gave in though, and their time came late in the contest when sophomore Daniel Cheek hit a big three from the top of the key to give Citrus its first lead since the first half at 65-63. On Santa Monica's next trip down the floor, the Corsairs got to the line, but only got the front end of two free-throws to keep Citrus in front by one. A couple of possessions later, Cheek iced the game with two huge free-throws to give the Owls their 67 points.

In the win, Citrus was led by Reyes who had a monster game scoring a 23 points and grabbing a game high 24 rebounds. The 24 rebounds is a new program record for rebounds in a game. Reyes also blocked six shots and had an assist for good measure. Cheek was the Owls' second leading scorer with 14 points, while Childress had a solid offering with 10 points, 8 assists, and just 2 turnovers.

With the win, Citrus improves to 8-4 overall and 1-0 in conference play. The Owls will get another big test on Saturday as they travel to State #15 Glendale College. Tip-off is set for 5:00 PM.