In a showdown between the #14-ranked and preseason WSC-South favorite Citrus Owls and the 2-time defending champion Canyons Cougars, it was the defending champs that came up with the win to move into first place in the division as COC ran past Citrus, 100-85, Wednesday night in Valencia.
It was a wide-open game, and that ended up working in the Cougars' favor as COC shot a sizzling 74% in the first half and nearly 68% for the game and reached the century mark. SG Andre Murray typified the COC effort with 30 pts on 11-of-15 from the floor.
Early on, it was Citrus that had the hot hand as the Owls made 9 of their first 12 shots, including 6 threes, to take a 25-20 lead. SF Tron Smith scored 13 of those early points, including 3 threes.
But even despite the hot shooting, Canyons never fell far behind and as the half continued they just got hotter as Citrus' shooting fell off the mark. SF Derrick Williams scored on a feed from Murray to put the Cougars ahead, 26-25, and COC never trailed again.
Near the end of the half, COC opened an 11-point lead at 48-37 after a pair of baskets by Ctr Scott Moore. Citrus closed the halftime margin to 9 at 52-43, and had to figure they would get their chance to rally in the second half since Canyons had shot an unreal 74% (23-of-31) for the half.
But in the second half, it was just more of the same. Canyons extended the lead back into double digits at 56-46 in the opening minutes of the half and pushed teh margin to 17 at 66-49 after a jumper by PF Youssef Hulse. By the time Citrus got as close as 10 points as the game wound down, but was never able to threaten the Cougars, who just kept on scoring. Though COC was unable to duplicate that 74% shooting in the second half, they still went 19-for-31 for a still formidible 61%.
COC relied on just six players for most of the game, so they ended up with some pretty gaudy statistics. Murray led COC scorers with 30 pts and added 6 rebs and 4 asts. Williams came off the bench to add 29 pts. Moore had 12 pts, all in the first half, and a career-high 13 rebs. PG Shant Bicakci had 11 pts and 12 asts. Hulse had a solid effort with 10 pts (on 5-for-5 shooting) and 7 boards while SF Dwayne Jones had 6 pts and 6 asts.
For Citrus, Smith led all scorers with 33 pts including 5 threes. PG Phil Friesen and SG James Reynolds each had 12 pts while Ctr Daniel Fleming had 10 plus 7 rebs. PG Shaughn Hill came off the bench to dish out a team-high 6 asts.
box score
Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - 7:30 pm
at the Cougar Cage - College of the Canyons - Valencia
WSC-South
Citrus Owls 85:
15-James Reynolds, SG - 4/9 fg, 1/3 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 5 pf, 12 pts
20-Phil Friesen, PG - 5/10 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl, 3 pf, 12 pts
23-Tron Smith, SF - 11/25 fg, 6/10 ft, 6 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 4 pf, 33 pts
30-Chad Allan, PF - 2/6 fg, 3/4 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 7 pts
34-Daniel Fleming, C - 4/6 fg, 2/4 ft, 7 reb, 10 pts
3-Shaughn Hull, G - 1/3 fg, 2 reb, 6 ast, 2 pf, 2 pts
25-Jeremy Black, F - 1/2 fg, 3 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 3 pts
45-Deonta Black, C - 1/3 fg, 0/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 blk, 1 pf, 2 pts
44-Andre Payne, F - 2/2 fg, 4 pts
team rebounds: 2
Totals: 31/66 fg (.470), 12/23 ft (.522), 27 reb, 17 ast, 3 blk, 8 stl, 19 pf, 85 pts
3-pt fg (11): Smith 5, Reynolds 3, Friesen 2, J.Black
Fouled Out: Reynolds 0:14 left
Turnovers (20): Smith 6, Friesen 4, Reynolds 3, Fleming 3, Hull 3, J.Black
Canyons Cougars 100:
3-Andre Murray, SG - 11/15 fg, 5/7 ft, 6 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 30 pts
10-Shant Bicakci, PG - 4/7 fg, 3/4 ft, 3 reb, 12 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 11 pts
12-Dwayne Jones, SF - 3/5 fg, 1 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 6 pts
21-Youssef Hulse, PF - 5/5 fg, 7 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 5 pf, 10 pts
54-Scott Moore, C - 6/10 fg, 13 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 3 pf, 12 pts
30-Derrick Williams, F - 12/19 fg, 5/6 ft, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 2 pf, 29 pts
42-Lewis Pettway, C - 2 pf, 0 pts
4-Travis Gibb, F - 1/1 fg, 2 reb, 2 pts
24-Keelan Stample, G - 1 ast, 0 pts
team rebounds: 2
Totals: 42/62 fg (.677), 13/17 ft (.765), 36 reb, 29 ast, 3 blk, 7 stl, 20 pf, 100 pts
3-pt fg (3): Murray 3
Fouled Out: Hulse 0:15 left
Turnovers (20): Bicakci 5, Williams 5, Hulse 4, Murray 3, Jones 2, Moore
Halftime Score: Canyons 52, Citrus 43
Updated Records: Canyons 10-9, 2-0 in WSC-S; Citrus 14-8, 2-1 in WSC-S
Canyons shot 74% from the floor in the first half
