Santa Clarita, CA (Men’s Basketball) -- It was the same old song and dance for the Citrus College Men’s Basketball team on Wednesday night in Santa Clarita. The Owls found themselves in an early first half deficit and trailed yet again at the break. Again though, Citrus found a way to rally in the second half and went on to take an 87-82 victory on the road at College of the Canyons.
Canyons got after the Owls from the get go scoring 15 of the first 18 points of the contest. Citrus’ only score in that opening five minute stretch was a jumper from sophomore Brandon Parga and one of two free-throws from Parga.
The Owls would finally find their groove midway through with a 6-0 run that freshman Kendrick Thomas put an exclamation point on with a fast-break dunk that cut the Cougar advantage to six. Canyons’ lead would stick between five and seven points over the next several minutes, until a lay-up from freshman Royal Mathews cut the Canyons lead to two with 6:37 left in the half.
Canyons would push their lead back to the five and seven point range, going up by as much as eight points with 13 seconds left in the half. A tip-in from freshman Brent Watkins would make it just a six point advantage for the Cougars headed into the break, as Citrus trailed 46-40.
In the second half, Canyons continued to cling to their lead seemingly having an answer for every Citrus push. The Cougars would even get their lead up to 10 points five minutes in. Canyons would keep their lead in that range until the 8:42 mark when a pair of free-throws from sophomore James Walker jump started 11 straight points from the Owls that was capped off by another pair of free-throws from Walker that made it 75-71 Citrus.
From that point on, Citrus never trailed, but Canyons didn’t make it easy. The Owls’ lead would stay between two and five points for the majority of the remainder of the game, with Citrus’ largest lead coming with just over three minutes to play when Parga hit the back end of a pair of free-throws to make it an 82-75 seven point lead. Canyons would get the lead back down to three points twice in the final 30 seconds, but a pair of free-throws from freshman Kerry Carter and Parga iced the game for the Owls.
In the win, Citrus was led by Parga’s game high 24 points. Parga went 4 of 8 from the field and an impressive 14 of 16 from the charity stripe. His 14 made free-throws is a program record for free-throws made in a game. Walker added 21, while Carter went for 10 and 8. Freshman point guard Brandon Woods handed out seven assists, and Thomas grabbed a team high nine boards.
With the win, Citrus improves to 21-1 overall and 8-0 in WSC South play. The Owls will be back at home on Saturday night when they take on LA Valley College. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.
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