Citrus Starts Fast; Beats Las Positas to advance to Semifinals
3C2A Men's Basketball Championship Tournament Central
WALNUT - Citrus came into its 3C2A Men's Basketball Tournament quarterfinal as the state's top-scoring offense. And they proved it in a 112-73 win over Las Positas, the north's #3 seed. The victory is believed to be the largest margin of victory since Fullerton beat West Valley by 31 points in a quarterfinal game in 2023.
The Owls advance to the semifinals of the tournament at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday, at either 1 or 3 pm against the north's top seed, San Francisco City.
Citrus, which is riding a 23-game win streak, has scored 90 or more points in 23 of its 31 games and 100 or more points in 16 games now. At one point in the season the Owls had a streak of 13 consecutive games of scoring 100 points or more. The 112 points today is 18 points short of its season-best 134 points vs. Santiago Canyon on December 7.
"We are always trying to score a lot of points. Our mission is to win the game in any way it is meant to be won. I think our offensive capability is what makes us hard to scout and play," Brett Lauer, Owls' head coach, said. "We have good players who are unselfish and like to make plays for each other "Tonight, we weathered some bad shooting by getting to the basket and controlling the paint. There were a couple putbacks that were huge for us. But we withstood bad shooting by flying around on defense, too. We created a lot of offense tonight through our defense."
Citrus (29-2) saw 11 of the 13 players who played score. Led by KJ Perry, a first team all-conference player, led all scorers with 29 points. Three other starters — Tyler Issak (14 points), Amiria Meadows (12) and Pejan Slater (10) — also scored in double figures. Blake Ballard came off the bench to score 11.
Las Positas (26-5), the north's third seed, never led in the contest. The Hawks managed to cut Citrus' lead to six at 25-19 with 10 minutes left, but Las Positas couldn't soar as high as the Owls. Citrus went on 19-7 run over the course of five minutes, giving the Owls a 46-26 lead. Over the course of the final five minutes, Citrus (29-2) used another plus-five scoring advantage to take a 58-34 lead.
The second half produced much of the same results. Citrus was dominant throughout the second half, opening its largest lead of the game – 44 points - with 8:20 remaining.
Las Positas came into the game as the state's seventh best scoring offense, but the Hawks struggled, shooting just 35 percent from the floor (28 of 79) and 15 percent from the three-point line (4 of 27). Citrus, meanwhile shot 52 percent from the floor, with 25 points coming from within the paint. Citrus also managed 24 second-half points.
Why Citrus' offense was the talk of the gym, Lauer, who is in his eighth season, was equally impressed by its defense. The Owls also dominated the boards, out-rebounding Las Positas by 17.
"I felt like our defense was really good," Lauer said. "All five guys were tied in on the defensive end. I thought we were every disciplined in our defense, which in turn helps our offense."
Las Positas was led by Elijah Mobley and Jaden Woodard with 21 points apiece.
(Robert Schmidt, CCCMBCA)
