In my last article I said that the Corsairs v. Owls should be a good game.

Boy was I wrong (as I wipe the egg from my face). This was no contest against the conference leading Citrus College Owls. Citrus is rated #2 in the state and #1 in the Southern California Coaches poll.

What can you say about a 40 point rout, especially when on the first meet, we won; at home, and handed the Owls their only conference defeat of the season?

Payback is a b...?

Well, whether payback is a bear or not, Citrus looked like the #1 ranked team last Wednesday night at home against the lowly Corsairs. The half ended at 42-25. It was pretty clear then that Citrus was sending a message - Don't mess with Texas ... or something like that.

The Citrus Owls did it with both offense and defense.

Citrus College Owls had only three players with double digit points. Mark Dorsey had 16, Troy Payne had 14 and Nathan Gibbs had 12. The difference is that they also had six other players who scored at least seven points. The entire SMC team scored only 41 points in the second half. Do the math.

For the Corsairs, naturally Anett Hollis was the leading scorer with 24 followed by Eric Bell with 18 and Robert Bush with 10. Where was Rodney Hudson you say? Good question. He was 2-14 on two point field goal attempts and 0-4 on three point tries. Moreover, five of the Corsairs scored ZERO points - and FIVE of the remaining players collectively scored 14 points in the entire game.

The Corsairs simply cannot sink baskets. They were 26-72 at two point field goals and 3-18 on three point attempts. The only bright spot was in free throws: in the second half they were 9-11 or 82%.

Rebounds also played a big part in this game. Citrus had 57 rebounds to Corsairs' 28. In offensive rebounds, Citrus had almost twice as many as the Corsairs; 25-13. Same in defensive rebounds: Citrus 26, Corsairs 13.

If anything can be said for the Corsairs, at least they lost to the # 2 team in the state.

They play Bakersfield at home on Saturday, Feb. 14th.