SBVC falls to Citrus 80-74

By Michelle Gardner

Staff Writer

RIVERSIDE - The San Bernardino Valley College men's basketball team
looked every bit the underdog. The Wolverines, with 12 freshmen on
their 13-player roster, were squaring off with the defending state
champion Citrus in first round play at the 39th annual Wells Fargo
Holiday Classic. It was the veteran Owls emerging with an 80-74 win
Wednesday at Riverside Community College.

The No. 2 Owls (11-1) had to rally back from an 11-point deficit in
the second half and did so helped by SBVC foul trouble. The
Wolverines (8-3) were called for seven team fouls in the first 3:30
of the second half with both Orlando Brazier and D'Shaun Holden
picking up their third and fourth of the game in that stretch.

Citrus made SBVC pay, hitting 22 of 27 tries from the stripe in the
game. SBVC made just 11 of its 12.

``We have to learn to play smarter basketball,'' SBVC coach Quincy
Brewer said. ``We play hard but we haven't played smart and when that
happens you're not going to beat a good team down the stretch.''

SBVC had its biggest lead at 52-41 six minutes into the half on a
fast-break bucket by Aaron Edwards.

The Wolverines still led at 56-48 with 11:05 to go but didn't get
another field goal for five minutes, in which time Citrus went up
64-59 with SBVC commiting six turnovers in that stretch.

SBVC struggled the rest of the way. Citrus built a 10-point lead at
71-61 with 3:30 to play but the Wolverines clawed back. With a
five-point lead the Owls Jose Rivera rushed up a 3-pointer with 2:46
left and SBVC got the rebound. Warren Fuselier scored on a fast break
to cut the gap to 71-68 with 2:36 to play.

But that was close as the Wolverines would get. Citrus added to its
lead on a fast-break layup by Kelly Johnson and never looked back.

``They (SBVC) are a very tough team to attack because they're so
quick at every position,'' Citrus coach Rick Croy said. ``They do a
good job of attacking and they're fearless.''


The first half was tight from start to finish with the biggest lead
by both teams being four points. There were five ties and 10 lead
changes, the last one coming when SBVC's Brazier scored on a put back
to give the Wolverines a 28-27 lead with 5:51 to go. The half ended
with SBVC up 37-35

The biggest discrepancy came at the free-throw line where the Owls
went 12-of-12 while the Wolverines went 3-of-6.

Brazier led all scorers with 19 points. He also had nine rebounds.
Fuselier added 15 with five assists and four steals as SBVC shot 39.5
percent.

Citrus, which shot 41.5 percent from the field, had a balanced attack
led by Los Osos product Curtis Eatmon and Rivera with 11 points
apiece. Troy Payne snagged 14 rebounds while Johnson had a team-high
four assists.


The Owls will face Saddleback in a 3 p.m. quarterfinal today.
Saddleback advanced with a 63-58 win over Imperial Valley. The
Wolverines drop into the consolation bracket and will face Imperial
Valley at 6 p.m.