Owls Upset Fullerton in Semi-Finals

Fullerton, CA - The Citrus College Men's Basketball team upset Pre-Season State #9 and SoCal #4 Fullerton College in the semi-finals of their home hosted tournament on Friday evening. The Owls jumped out to a nine point halftime lead before hanging on for an eight point win 62-54. 

 Fullerton would come out looking every bit as good as advertised, scoring the game's first six points and eight of the first 11. Trailing 3-8, the Owls would finally settle into a groove getting a layup by freshman Khalil Williams and a triple by sophomore Tyler LaCour to tie the game up at 8-8 and help jumpstart a 14-0 run by the Owls that ended with a layup by freshman Jeremy Smith that gave the Owls a 17-8 lead.

The Hornets would whittle away at the Owl lead, getting just within one with just over six minutes to play in the first half. Smith came up big for the Owls, with a three that pushed the lead back to four, but Fullerton cut the lead back to two a few possessions later. Citrus proved resilient though, closing the half on a 8-1 run, with Smith accounting for six of the eight points as the Owls went into the break leading 37-28.

In the second half, Citrus' lead grew to as large as 14 points after a three by sophomore Kenneth Cyprian with 13:14 on the clock. A team as good as Fullerton wouldn't go away quietly, as the Hornets got the Owls lead all the way down to three with 3:28 left in the game. Citrus would turn to Smith, who was huge down the stretch, going 6 of 6 from the free-throw line to help close out the game. 

In the win, Smith finished with a game high 27 points, adding a team high four assists, and three steals. Williams was the only other Owl in double figures with 10 points to go along with eight rebounds, a total matched by both Cyprian and fellow soph Calvin Martin. With the win, Citrus improves to 4-1 on the young season and will get a chance to avenge their lone loss thus far when they take on San Diego City College in the Championship Game on Saturday.