Owls Survive Tough Road Test at LA Southwest

Los Angeles, CA - The Citrus College Men's Basketball team survived a tough road test on Wednesday evening. The Owls led by 10 points late, but had to survive a late rally by the Cougars before holding on with a 78-75 win. 

The Owls got off to a great start on the evening, scoring the game's first 11 points. Sophomore Tyler LaCour scored the game's first basket, and sophomore Kenneth Cyprian converted a three-point play to give the Owls an 11-0 advantage. The Cougars would score four of the next five points, but the Owls used a 9-0 spurt capped off by a jumper by Cyprian that made it 21-4 with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half. Citrus would maintain it's lead through the remainder of the half, but LA Southwest chipped away at the Owl lead. At the break, Citrus' lead was five 38-33. 

Southwest would come into the second half and make an early run at the Citrus lead. The Cougars cut their deficit to three a couple of times midway through. The Owls would continue to keep Southwest at arms length though, eventually pushing their lead back to double-digits 69-59 after a two by freshman Andrew Ammann with just under four to go. 

The Cougars had one more push, getting the Owls lead all the way down to one point with just over a minute to go. In the final minute, Cyprian would hit two free-throws, Smith would get a jumper, and freshman Khalil Williams would hit a pair of crucial attempts from the charity stripe to seal the victory. 

In the win, the Owls were led by LaCour and Cyprian. LaCour poured in a game high 21 points, while Cyprian added 18. Smith would join the double-digit club with 13 points, while also managing to grab five boards, hand out assists, and record a pair of steals. 

With the win, Citrus improves to 6-1 on the year. The Owls will be at home for their home opener on Saturday when they host College of the Desert at 3:00 PM.