Citrus Moves to Within One Game of State Championship with 72-62 win over Chaffey

The Men’s basketball team matched the intensity of the Foothill Conference champion Chaffey Panthers and withstood a ferocious rally by the visiting team as they moved on to the state’s Elite Eight on Wednesday night with a 72-62 victory in the Regional Semi-Final of the 2011 CCCAA Playoffs.

The game was the first meeting between the two schools this season and the Panthers (20-8) were coming off a win over Trade Tech last Friday night to advance to the regional semi-final, while the Owls (25-5) were coming off an 88-63 win over Antelope Valley College.

The Owls were the 4th seed in the south and the Panthers the 5th seed. Citrus was led by sophomore guard Lateef McMullan, one of four Citrus players to score in double figures. McMullan almost matched his season average of 16.5 points per game and was 4 out of 7 in 3 point shots in the first half as he helped Citrus take a 39-25 halftime advantage.

Freshman forward Davon “DJ” Shelton, who came into the game leading the team in rebounds and field goal percentage, poured in 13 points and also helped on the defensive end with three blocked shots while Jacob Ranger and Hakeem Washington also had 10 points each.

 After Citrus led by as much as 57-48 in the second half, the Panthers started chipping away at the lead, and got to within two points of the Owls with 3:30 left in the game, mostly thanks to the offensive play of Naz Richardson, Donte Godlock and Ryan Jefferson, who all scored in double figures to contribute to Chaffey’s second half rally.

However, a thunderous dunk by Shelton (which made the score 65-61 with 1:38 remaining in the game) and superb outside shooting including three pointers by Donte Archie, Shelton and Washington contributed to Citrus’ 53 percent field goal shooting percentage and helped the Owls preserve the home playoff victory.

“We knew it was going to be a battle coming in. Chaffey’s won a very competitive conference, and coach Klein is a great coach,” said Citrus head coach Chris Victor.

 Victor said the key to the Citrus victory was figuring out how to attack Chaffey’s zone defense.

 “The biggest thing we did is we weathered their run, we stuck together and were able to get the lead back after,” he said, “They set defenses, mainly zones so we just wanted to make sure that we kept attacking and stayed aggressive on offense.”

“They were playing a lot of match up zones,” said McMullan, who finished 6 out of 13 from the field.

“It was kind of hard to figure it out but we figured it out, it was all about moving the ball and getting the best shot possible.”

 McMullan said Citrus was excited to be moving on against Irvine Valley College on Saturday. IVC knocked off No.1 seed Mt. SAC.

 “We’re excited, we think we can beat anybody, we are just looking forward to the challenge,” he said.