Gut Punch

Santa Monica, CA - The start of the 2016 Western State Conference slate has been anything but kind to the Citrus College Men's Basketball team. That trend continued on Wednesday night when the Owls arguably swallowed their toughest loss 71-74 at Santa Monica College. With the game all tied up at 71-71, the Corsairs delivered a gut punch to the Owls in the form of a just past half court shot buzzer beater that sank Citrus.

 Citrus did about all they could when it came to the Wednesday's contest. The Owls even went into the break up 38-37. Late in the game, things continued to go the Owls' way as freshman Kenneth Cyprian hit a three-pointer with just over 50 seconds to go to put Citrus up 71-69.

The Owls would give up a lay-up though on the ensuing possession by the Corsairs, and then waste away their last offensive possession by getting whistled for a shot clock violation, giving Santa Monica the ball back with 2.8 seconds left. That's when the fateful buzzer beater from just beyond the half court line occurred, sending the Owls to 0-3 in WSC South play.

In the loss, Citrus was led by Cyprian's team high 20 points. Sophomore Jordan McNellys would add 18, while sophomore Ryan Wiley had 13 and a team high 10 boards.

With the loss, Citrus drops to 6-10 overall. The Owls will be back home on Saturday when they host College of the Canyons for a 5:00 PM tip.