Hawks Split in Citrus Tournament

The Santiago Canyon College men's basketball team traveled to Glendora on Friday and Saturday to take on two top-tanked 3C2A competitors at the Citrus College Tournament. The Hawks stumbled against Santa Monica on Friday by a narrow margin, but rebounded with a strong shooting performance on Saturday leading to a commanding win over host Citrus.

GAME ONE

There were six ties and six lead changes in the Hawk's opening game against the Santa Monica College Corsairs on Friday night. They held a seven-point lead after the opening 20 minutes of play, but a slow second half that saw them bucket a lowly 31 points lead to a 71-68 defeat.

The Hawks chucked up 30 three pointers and only flushed eight for a mere 26.7 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The starting five went 3-for-17 from distance to put them in a hole. Furthermore, they were significantly outrebounded by a ratio of 57-31 and allowed Santa Monica to bucket 27 second-chance points and 38 points in the paint.

The bench was the highlight of the game as freshman center Chico Lopez led the way with 15 points that featured a flawless 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Freshman guard Eli Arthurton came off the pine en route to 11 points on a 4-for-9 mark from the floor.

Freshman guard Toney Colley led all scorers with 19 points in a starting role after playing 23 minutes; the smallest amount amongst all starters. The other starters scored a combined 17 points on a 7-for-23 clip.

GAME TWO

The Hawks came out firing in game two finished with nine-point victory over the Citrus College Owls. The Hawks led from the opening tip and never looked back with their largest lead coming just outside the five minute mark at 14 points.

They shot an impressive 50 percent from the floor that included a 41.7 clip from long range. Freshman guard Kai Smith, who came off the bench for the first time this season, exploded for his second 30+ point game of the season. He dropped 31 points in 32 minute of action which is just two points shy of his season-best mark.

He was money from the floor by going 9-for-15 to go along with a perfect 11-for-11 mark at the free throw line. He was joined by freshman guard Damien Parker. He bucketed a season-high 24 points including two three pointers and a 6-for-6 mark from the charity stripe.

I. Arthurton had another impressive game, this time in a starting role, by finishing with 19 points and hitting a trio of shots beyond the arc.

The defense forced the Owls to turn the ball over 13 times and converted those turnovers to 11 points. Despite sending Citrus to the line 24 times, the Owls went 54.2 from the line in comparison to the Hawk's 84 percent shooting from the free throw stripe.