Owls Take 3rd at Knights Invite

San Diego, CA – It was a mixed bag for the Citrus College Men's Basketball team over the weekend at the 2016 Knight's Invitational hosted by San Diego City College. The Owls opened things up with a resounding 88-67 win over San Diego Mesa College in the opener, before suffering a 60-74 loss at the hands of the weekend's host in the semi-finals. Things took a turn for the better in the 3rd Place Game, and it did so late when a buzzer beater by freshman guard Jeremy Smith gave the Owls a 87-86 victory over Mt. San Jacinto College.

In the opener against the Olympians, Citrus took a little while to get going, but once they did, they never looked back. San Diego Mesa led 8-1 after the first three minutes, but heated up shortly thereafter and went on to outscore the Olympians 40-17 over the remaining 17 minutes of first half action. The Owls kept their foot on the gas in the second half offensively, scoring 47 more points, and ending up with a 21 point win. In the victory sophomore Kenneth Cyprian poured in 17 points. Sophomore Kyle Gray added 13, while sophomore Calvin Martin had a team high seven boards, while Smith came off the bench to hand out a team high six assists.

Against San Diego City, Citrus kept it close throughout the first half, trailing by just two at halftime. The Knight's turned things around though in the second half, rallying from 15 first half turnovers and shooting a blistering 57.6% from the floor. The Owls couldn't muster the same efficiency hitting just 28.1% of their shots on the game, including a tough 3 for 20 effort from beyond the 3-point arc. Martin and sophomore Tyler LaCour were the only Owls in double figures on the game with Martin having a game high 12 to go with nine rebounds, and LaCour scoring 11.

After a tough semi-final performance, Citrus drew a tough opponent in the third place game in the form of Mt. San Jacinto College, a program that had knocked the Owls out of the post-season twice in the past three seasons. The Owls were able to keep it close with the Eagles over the first 20 minutes of action, trailing 37-41 at the break. In the second half, Citrus turned on the offensive afterburners scoring 50 points. The two most important of those came when the Owls trailed by just one point after a pair of MSJC free-throws with seven seconds to go. That's when Smith took the inbound sprinted the length of the court, pulled up on the left wing and calmly sank a jumper to give Citrus the victory. Smith would finish with a game high 20 points on the night and All-Tournament honors.

Citrus' 2-1 start will be tested right away, when the Owls take part in the Fullerton College Classic this coming week. The Owls' first round game will be on Wednesday at 5:00 PM when Citrus takes on an old conference rival in the form of Bakersfield College.