Heartbreak in the Nest

Glendora, CA - Just when it seemed like the Citrus College Men's Basketball team had finally turned things around for the positive down the home stretch of their game against Antelope Valley College and the last half of their Western State Conference South Division schedule. The Marauders handed the Owls a handful of heartbreak with a shot clock beating three with 19 seconds left that put Citrus on the losing end of things on Wednesday evening in what ended up a 79-76 loss.

 Antelope came to play on Wednesday scoring the game's first seven points, and jumping out to a 16-5 lead over the Owls. Citrus, as it's been known to do, didn't panic though and slowly worked their way back into the game. It wasn't something that happened all of a sudden, but rather a slow build that saw the Owls keep chipping away at the Marauder lead.

Citrus' first lead in the game would come with 5:18 left in the first half when sophomore Bishop Hardy came off the bench to provide a huge spark for the Owls, hitting a jumper that made it 33-32. Antelope would answer back on their next possession, but at that point, Citrus had signaled that they were going to make it a game, going into halftime trailing by five 44-39.

In the second half, Citrus didn't let Antelope Valley control the tempo, as they went toe to toe with the Marauders. The Owls wouldn't let the Marauders lead reach double-digits, trailing by no more than seven points with 13:19 to go. That's when the tide began to turn. Freshman Calvin Martin got things going with a three-point play that put Citrus to within four. The Owls would get a stop and then a three from sophomore Jordan McNellys to pull within one. Antelope would get two looks at the bucket on their next trip down the floor, but the second ended in a turnover by the Marauders leading to a fast break dunk by Martin that made it 56-55 for Citrus.

Antelope would rally with a three, but freshman Latrelle Franklin went an eye for eye with a three of his own to put Citrus back on top. The Marauders would get a three point play a little over a minute later, would go on an 11-0 run getting back to back three's from freshman Kenneth Cyprian, a jumper from Ryan Wiley, and a three-point play from Wiley to put Citrus in front 67-61 with 7:08 to go.

Citrus would cling to that lead over the next five and a half minutes with the Marauders tying the game up twice, at 70 all and 72 all. With the game knotted up at 72 all, the Owls turned to sophomore Mark Williams who stepped up and buried a triple to make it 75-72 with 1:30 to go. Antelope would answer with a lay-in near the end of their shot clock on their next possession, but Citrus pushed their lead back to two after Martin hit the front end of two free-throws with 48 seconds to go.

Needing a big play, Antelope got just that when Brandon Wade hit a desperation three as the shot clock buzzer sounded with 19 seconds to go putting the Marauders up one. The Owls would have plenty of time to respond, but Citrus turned the ball over with just over four seconds to go, leading to two free-throws from Antelope that made their lead three. On the inbound, Citrus impressively got the ball to midcourt and called a timeout with 2.4 seconds to go. The ensuing inbound though didn't go as well as Citrus turned it over once again, sealing their fate.

Williams would lead the way with a team high 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Cyprian matched Williams 13 points, while Hardy had 12 off the bench.

With the loss, Citrus drops to 10-12 overall and 4-5 in WSC South play. The Owls' road down the stretch doesn't get any easier as they host SoCal #14 Santa Monica College on Saturday at 5:00 PM.