Owls Post-Season Run Ends at Antelope Valley

Lancaster, CA – The Citrus College Men's Basketball team's 2016 CCCAA post-season run came to an end on Wednesday night. The #18 seeded Owls hung tough with #7 Antelope Valley, but the Marauders late heroics sealed Citrus' fate.

Antelope would start the game on fire, hitting four of their first five shots from the floor and taking an early 8-2 lead. Shortly thereafter, the Owls would settle into a rhythm and make it a game. Citrus wouldn't earn their first lead of the game until there was just 8:07 left in the first half, when freshman Latrelle Franklin hit a three from the wing to make it 30-29.

The Marauders would score on their next possession to briefly regain the lead, but the Owls used a small 6-0 run getting a pair of baskets from sophomore Mark Williams and a bucket from sophomore Jordan McNellys to take a 36-31 lead with 5:33 to go.

The five point lead wouldn't last for more than 35 seconds as Antelope tied the game back up with 4:58 to go, and then retook the lead one possession later. After a timeout by the Owls, Citrus rallied, Williams tied the game back on a post-up inside, and freshman Kenneth Cyprian took a pass from Williams and buried a trey to put Citrus back on top.

Antelope would take one more run at the Owls lead in the first half, briefly regaining it at the 2:56 mark, but Citrus closed out the first half on a 7-0 run getting another triple from Cyprian at the nearly the buzzer to go into halftime leading the Marauders 49-43.

In the second half, Citrus would maintain its lead throughout the first 10 minutes, pushing it to as much as nine points on a few occasions. Antelope wouldn't go away easy though, as they tied the game up at 66-66 with 10:31 to go. Two possessions later, the Marauders regained the lead back and at the point it was game on.

Over the next five minutes of action, the two schools would trade the lead on five separate occasions, while the game would be tied four other times. The last tie would come on a Cyprian three with 4:20 to go that made it 83-83. That would be the closest Citrus would get as they went 1 for 6 in the final four minutes of action and had a pair of crucial late turnovers. Antelope meanwhile was more efficient both in the field and at the free-throw line where they finished the game by outscoring Citrus 13-3.

In the loss, Citrus was led by Williams who scored a game high 23 points, pulled down a game high seven rebounds, and handed out a team high seven assists. Cyprian finished with 19, while sophomore Caleb Richey had 12, and sophomore Ryan Wiley 13 and seven boards.

With the loss, Citrus' season comes to an end with a 16-14 record.