The Citrus College men’s basketball team beat San Diego Miramar College, 99-72, in the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs.
Citrus came in as the No. 3 seed off a first round bye and the Jets came in as the No. 14 seed after beating West Los Angeles College.
The game was close, with both teams trading baskets in the first few minutes of the first half.
The Jets got their first and only lead of the game when sophomore Deion Alston made a jump shot 29 seconds into the game, as the first score for either team.
In the first half, Sophomore Jeremy Smith exploded for 22 points, as he hit both of his three-point attempts and made 9 of 11 field goals.
“I feel like our team played fantastic,” Smith said, “we read the scouting report on their team during the week and we came locked in and prepared to win.”
The Owls started to click in the middle of the first half, as they started to shoot more three-pointers.
The Owls went into the locker room with a 52-39 lead over the Jets. Citrus made nine three-pointers in the first half.
In the second half, the Owls continued doing what they did best, rebounding and hitting three-pointers.
The Owls had 15 rebounds and eight three-pointers in the second half. Overall, the Owls had 17 three-pointers and 35 rebounds.
The Owls also had a huge advantage in points off turnovers with 18. The Citrus bench also played a big role in the win by scoring 39 points compared to the Jets’ bench, 22 points.
“I thought it was a complete team effort,” Citrus head coach Brett Lauer said. “We had 10 guys playing really hard, we focused on getting back and transitioning and making sure that no one was left on an island on defense, it was five guys competing whenever they were out there.”
The Owls won the game behind 30 points from Smith and 13 rebounds from sophomore Kyle Gray.
Citrus faithfuls and the players clapped together shortly after the game went final.
Despite losing, Jets coach Nick Gehler had positive words after the game.
“I thought we played well, Citrus is just very good,” Gehler said. “They shot the ball really well tonight and they played really hard and they beat us, and they deserved it. I thought our team competed, but we were just a little outmatched.”
The Owls will stay home for the regional final against Orange Coast at 7 p.m. March 3.
