Citrus Grabs OT Thriller to Keep Dancing

With a trip to the CCCAA State Championship Tournament on the line, Saturday's CCCAA SoCal Regional Finale brought excitement and then some as No. 5-ranked Citrus College grabbed a 96-93 overtime victory over No. 13-ranked Ventura College.

The Owls improve to 27-3 and return to the State Tournament for the second year in a row and the third time in four seasons, while the Pirates end their season with a 23-7 mark.

Anthony Tello led the Owls with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, adding three assists, a steal, and a block. Chris Chiles followed with 17 points (6-of-13), seven rebounds, three assists, and four steals, while Jayden Johnston chipped in 16 points, seven boards, and five assists. Jamal Briscoe added 12 points off the bench (6-for-10) and Uriah Foster added 10 points (3-for-4).

Aibigho Ujadughele led Citrus' rebounding effort with 11 boards to help the Owls win the glass 44-36.

It was a pretty evenly matched game – both teams shot just under 50-percent from the floor and over 40-percent from beyond the arc – and saw nine ties and 18 lead changes.

Citrus had to battle back from a 15-point hole, but never stopped believing and got a big stop from Ujadughele with 40 seconds left in regulation. It led to a Tello layup to put the Owls up by three, but the Pirates caught a break and drew a foul on a three-point attempt with less than 10 seconds on the clock. Ventura's Adrian McIntyre sank all three to send the game to overtime.

The Owls scored first in the extra period but couldn't quite seem to shake the visitors.

With just under a minute to play, VC took a one-point lead, 90-89, but Johnston responded with a big trey to swing momentum in favor of Citrus.

Tello upped the Owls' lead to two possessions after banking in a shot with just five seconds on the clock.

The Pirates made things interesting with a quick, deep three-pointer to pull within three, but the Owls got the inbound pass off and held on for the 96-93 victory.

Citrus heads to West Hills Lemoore to close out the CCCAA State Championship, taking on the College of the Sequoias on Thursday in the quarterfinals.