Owls Can’t Erase Halftime Deficit in Loss to Mt. San Jacinto

San Diego, CA -- The Citrus College Men's Basketball team nearly came back from 14 down at the break, but came up just shy on Saturday evening in the semi-finals of the 2015 Knight's Invitational hosted by San Diego City College. The Owls outscored Mt. San Jacinto College by seven in the second half, but couldn't close the gap in a 75-68 loss.

Citrus would score the game's first basket, getting a jumper from sophomore Ryan Wiley, but the Eagles came out fast too, scoring 11 of the next 12 points for an 11-3 lead. The Owls would get their deficit down to four after a pair of free-throws by freshman Teeqwaun James made it 15-19 with 9:44 left in the first half. The Eagles close the half on a 19-9 run though, settling in for that 14-point halftime lead.

In the second half, the two teams would trade blows early, with the Owls slowly chipping away at the Mt. San Jacinto lead. Citrus would use a 8-0 run kick started by a three from freshman Kenneth Cyprian and bookended by a lay-in from freshman Mark Williams to make it 63-68 with four minutes to go. The Eagles broke it up though with a layup, and went on to hit four of six free-throws down the stretch, while limiting the Owls to 0 for 4 shooting from the floor in the final 1:20 to hang on for the lead.

Williams led all scorers with 22 points on the evening, while Wiley had his first double-double of the year with 11 points and a game high 13 boards. James added 10 off the bench, while freshman Latrelle Franklin had a team high six assists off the bench.

With the loss, Citrus drops to 1-2 on the season. The Owls will participate in the 3rd place game on Sunday and take on host San Diego City College, who Citrus lost to earlier this season.