Vengeance With a Side of a Championship

Fullerton, CA - The Citrus College Men's Basketball team got to head-to-head with the only team to hand the Owls a loss so far this year on Saturday evening when it faced San Diego City College in the Championship Game of the 2016 Fullerton College Classic. The Owls got some vengeance and with it a tournament championship on the side as they defeated the Knights 77-75.

The game was back and forth throughout the entire night, with the lead changing hands a total of 13 times, and the game being tied up on 13 occasions as well. The Owls would take charge early, going by as much as 11 points after a layup by sophomore Tyler LaCour made it 20-9 with 8:54 left in the first half. San Diego City would go on to outscore Citrus 27-13 over the final eight plus minute of first half action though, and Citrus went into the break trailing 33-36.

San Diego would come out the break and score the first seven points of the half to extend their lead to a game high 10 points with 17:56 to go. Citrus would go on to score the next eight, getting contributions from freshmen Jeremy Smith, Khalil Williams, and Quentin Bailey and from there on out it was, game on.

From the 12:43 mark on, the lead would change hands 10 of those 13 total times and the game would also be tied 10 of those 13 times. The last lead change in favor of the Owls would come with 4:44 left in the game as sophomore Kenneth Cyprian drained a huge three from the wing to make it 68-66. The Knights would tie the game up four more times the last of which was on a tip-in with 1:25 to go that made it 74-74.

After turnovers by both teams, Citrus got the ball back with 44 seconds left, and got a big jumper in the paint by freshman Kyle Gray to put Citrus back on top 76-74. The Owls would get a defensive stop on City's next trip down the floor, but Citrus was unable to put the game away for good, missing two free-throws with four seconds to go.

San Diego would get one last opportunity to tie the game up when their big man was sent to the charity stripe with just seconds left on the clock. The Knights missed the first and hit the second, while Smith iced the game with the second of two free-throws as time was set to expire to seal the victory.

In the win, Smith would lead all scorers with a game high 25 points, to go along with six boards, three assists, and four steals on his way to tournament MVP honors. Williams would add 18 and 7 off the bench, earning All-Tournament honors, while Bailey reached double-digits for the second time this year with a season high 14. LaCour would grab the other All-Tournament spot for Citrus.

With the win, Citrus improves to 5-1 overall on the year. The Owls will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Los Angeles Southwest College for a 6:00 PM tip.