Owls Sting Hornets to Advance to State Quarterfinals

With a trip to the CCCAA State Championship on the line, ninth-seeded Citrus College had a tall task standing in its way: top-seeded Fullerton College. The last time the two teams met, the Hornets just edged out the Fighting Owls by one possession.

Saturday night in the third round of the tournament, however, was a different story. The No. 14-ranked Owls posted an 84-72 victory to keep their season alive.

Owls win! Citrus knocks off top-seeded Fullerton 84-72 to keep on dancing! pic.twitter.com/f33PyI9ia1

— Citrus College Owls (@ccfightingowls) March 6, 2022

Citrus improves to 23-6 overall, while second-ranked Fullerton ends its season at 25-4.

Three Owls finished the night in double figures, led by Leonard Turner with 23 points (8-of-11). Anthony Tello added 19 points on 5-of-11 shooting and Chris Harper chipped in 13 points (5-of-9).

Off the glass, Jayden Johnston and Turner each grabbed eight boards to help the Owls out-rebound the Hornets 40-to-35.

Fullerton jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the first five minutes, but Citrus came crawling right back. The Owls answered with an 11-2 run to take the lead off a Cedric Reed three-pointer after Endigo Coleman stole the ball away.

Both teams kept battling for the upper hand and Nate Crawley banked in a shot with just seconds on the clock to send Citrus into halftime holding a 34-30 lead.

Citrus came out of the break looking to keep its foot on the gas and threatened a double-digit lead in the first two minutes of the second half. It came six minutes into the frame as Tello found Harper for a basket to put the Owls up 50-40.

Despite holding a multi-possession lead heading down the stretch, Citrus knew it couldn't get complacent.

The Hornets got some big stops and drew fouls offensively to pull within four points, 71-67, with just under four minutes to go.

Citrus called a timeout and responded with an 8-0 run, fueled by six points from Tello and another two from Lance Rodrigues, to jump back up 79-67.

Fullerton hit a clutch three-pointer with a minute left to keep its hope alive, but as the Hornets fouled to try to get the ball, Citrus kept its composure at the line and knocked down five free throws to seal the 84-72 victory.

The Owls head to the quarterfinals at West Hills College Lemoore, taking on West Valley College at 3 p.m. The winner will advance to the semifinal games on Saturday with the championship taking place Sunday at 3:30 p.m.