Comeback Kids

Glendora, CA -- After trailing by 20 points at halftime and 24 early in the second half, there wouldn't be too many people who would have picked the Citrus College Men's Basketball team to come back against State #7 and SoCal #4 Antelope Valley College. The Owls did just that though, posting one of the biggest comebacks in recent program history in an 86-83 win over the visiting Marauders.

The short handed Owls fell into an early hole as Antelope Valley scored nine of the game's first eleven points. Still Citrus kept it respectable for most of the first half trailing by just eight with 6:13 left to go. That's when Antelope Valley embarked on a 13-3 run that took most of the air out of the gym and gave the Marauders a 43-23 lead at the break.

Antelope started out the second half by six of the first eight points, but the Owls never stopped playing hard. Sophomore John Roach broke up the early rally by the Marauders with a three, and Citrus began to slowly chip away at that large deficit.

Freshman Mark Williams helped the Owls get their shortfall down below 20 thanks to a 6-0 spurt that he made happen, hitting a three from the top of the key, and then getting three the hard way on Citrus' next possession to make it 39-58. The biggest plays of the night though would come from freshman Ryan Wiley who had season highs in points and rebounds.

It was Wiley who got Citrus to within 10 after converting a three-point play and then hitting a jumper to make it 56-65 with 10:42 to go. Wiley, with some help from Williams didn't stop there as a lay-in by Williams and another floater by Wiley made it 65-60. Antelope would finally break up the Citrus scoring streak with a dunk, but the Owls didn't let momentum swing out of their favor as Wiley hit another jumper, sophomore Dominique Walker calmly buried two free-throws, and sophomore Justin Childress a jumper that made it 66-67 with 7:19 to go.

At that point, Citrus was back in the game, but it was far from over. Antelope responded with another thunderous dunk and then a layup after a Citrus turnover to go back up five, but sophomore Jordan Jefferson hit the front end of two free-throws, and freshman Jordan McNellys a lay-up to pull back within two. Moments later, sophomore John Roach gave Citrus it's first lead of the night by burying a trey to make it 72-71.

The lead would exchange hands three times after that three, with Antelope going up 79-76 with 2:01 to play. The Owls would clamp down on defense though, and close the game on a 10-4 run using Walker going 5 of 6 from the charity stripe, another Wiley three-point play, and two free-throws from Childress to ice the game.

In the win, Citrus was led by Wiley who scored a game high 24 points and grabbed a game high 15 rebounds. Roach added 20, while Walker chipped in with 24. The Owls would outscore the Marauders 63-40 in the second half and shoot 61.3% from the floor in the final 20 minutes of competition.

With the win, Citrus improves to 15-8 overall and 8-3 in WSC South play. The Owls will be back at home for their final regular season home contest of the year on Saturday when they play host to LA Valley College. Tip-off is set for 3:00 PM.