On the Right Path

Santa Clarita, CA - With the 2015-2016 winding down, and each and every game becoming a must win for the Citrus College Men's Basketball team, the Owls staying on the right path on Wednesday night when they travelled to College of the Canyons. Citrus bested the Cougars in all but one of the major statistical categories and went on to win in impressive fashion 92-62. 

 Citrus wasted little time in getting down to business, scoring the game's first eight points, and 15 of the first 19. Less than five minutes in the Owls had a double-digit lead 15-4 after three free-throws from freshman Kenneth Cyprian. The Cougars would manage to get the Owl lead back down to high single digits over the next few minutes, until an 11-1 run by the Owls pushed their lead to 19 after a triple by Cyprian with 9:38 to go in the half.

From that point forward, Citrus lead never dropped below that double-digit mark. Sophomore Ryan Wiley would push the Owls lead to 20 plus for the first time, thanks to a layup with 8:16 left on the clock that made it 33-12. Citrus' lead would hover around there for the remainder of the first half, with Citrus going into the break leading the Cougars 51-22. 

In the second half, Citrus' lead quickly reached eclipsed the 30 point mark when freshman big man Calvin Martin hit a jumper to make it 53-22. The Owls' lead would hit the apex with 7:39 to go when sophomore Bishop Hardy took a defensive rebound and pass from Wiley and laid it up and in off the glass to make it 87-42. 

Every Owl played at least eight minutes on the night, and all scored. Cyprian led all Owl scorers with 20 points, while sophomore Mark Williams had 18 points and 10 rebounds for his third straight double-double and fifth in his last seven contests. No other Owl finished in double-digits scoring, but Wiley did have a game high 12 rebounds. 

With the win, Citrus improves to 12-12 on the season and 6-5 in WSC South play. The Owls will be back at home on Saturday night when they host LA Valley College (10-13, 6-5) at 5:00 PM. The Monarchs are in a three way tie for fourth place with Citrus and Antelope Valley College in the WSC South standings. All three are one game back of Glendale College and Santa Monica College who are tied for second place at 7-4.