ONCE AGAIN SECOND HALF AGAINST CITRUS DOOMS MARAUDER MEN'S BASKETBALL

Photo by Ed Beyer PhD

LANCASTER - The Marauder men's basketball team looked good for one half against No. 5 Citrus. And much like the first meeting between the two teams the Marauders took a lead into the locker room at halftime.

Unfortunately for AVC, it slipped up again in the second half against the Owls and Wednesday night was outscored 59-40 in the final 20 minutes as Citrus won the outright Western State Conference title with a 90-73 victory over the Marauders, Wednesday evening on Chelette Court.

With a victory, the Marauders had an opportunity to tie the Owls in the conference standings, but now Citrus holds a two-game lead over AVC with one remaining. NOw the Marauders have to defeat Glendale on Saturday and hope with 17 wins it will get into the playoffs.

On Jan. 24, the Marauders led 41-28 at halftime but was outscored 52-26 in the second half at Citrus.

Both the Owls and the Marauders shot 29-of-60 from the field, however, Citrus netted 12 3-pointers and shot 20-of-20 from the free throw line. On the flip side, AVC made only three 3-pointers and was 12-of-19 from the free throw line. Citrus' bench outscored AVC's, 31-5 on the evening.

D'Mauria Jones led AVC with a game-high 25 points and eight rebounds. Julian Payton finished with 16 points and Osi Nwachukwu added 14 points and seven rebounds.