The Citrus College Men's Basketball team was the #2 ranked team in the state going into this game. There was no doubt that this would be a tough game. Frankly, after the disappointing loss to Glendale on Wednesday, it was doubtful that the Corsairs had much of a chance. No one could have predicted such a nail-biter as this one turned out to be.

Citrus gets the opening tip-off; scores two points, draws the fowl and makes the free-throw. Corsairs are down three to zip in a matter of seconds. Each team scores two points and with less than one minute of play, the score is 5-2, Citrus.

With 17:54 left in the first half, the Corsairs are called for a technical fowl; Citrus scores both free-throws and now lead 7-4.

At this point the momentum shifts decidedly in Citrus's favor. With 13:49 left in the first period Citrus takes an 18-9 lead. Five minutes later, Citrus extends the lead to 10 with a score of 25-15. At the end of the first period the score was 35-26 in favor of Citrus. The Corsairs were looking flat; missing rebounds and turning the ball over when they needed to be scoring.

The Corsairs draw first blood in the second period, but Citrus answers with a three-pointer. Later the Corsairs show a spark of life when Rodney Hudson steals the ball and runs it back for two points; unassisted. Score is now narrowed to 42-34 in favor of Citrus.

Citrus answers with a steal of their own ending in a slam dunk with 16 minutes left in the game. Three minutes later Citrus would lead by a score of 56-41. The Corsairs would steal the ball three times only to throw it away. It looked like the game was over.

Then the Corsairs rally with two consecutive three point baskets; the score is now 61-51. Although still trailing by 10, there seemed to be a slight shift in momentum. Then the Corsairs steal the ball from Citrus and score two points. As Citrus inbounds the ball on the next possession it is tipped and bounced off one of their players – Corsair's ball. Corsairs score four unanswered points so the score is now 61-55 with just over seven minutes left in the game.

Later in the game the Corsairs are tagged for goal-tending and the score is 68-65. Citrus inbounds the ball and Corsairs fowl. Citrus misses the first shot, then the second. Corsairs get the rebound, take it down the court and score three. Score is tied with just under three minutes to play in the game. Citrus gets the ball back and misses. The Corsairs get the ball back and make their third consecutive three pointer - the score is now 71-68; Corsairs favor. In their next possession the Corsairs score one point off a fowl. Citrus gets the ball back and scores two; score 72-70 with 2:39 left in the game.

Corsairs get the ball back and miss. Citrus gets the rebound, scores, and draws the fowl. They make the free throw and the score is now 73-72 in favor of Citrus. Two plays later, each score one point on fowls and the score is now 74-73 Citrus. It's Citrus' ball and they score one point off a fowl; 75-74: Citrus lead. With 30 seconds left in the game, the Corsairs take it down the court. Hudson takes a two point shot and misses. Corsairs get the rebound, Avery Martin shoots and makes the basket; score is now 76-75 in favor of Corsairs with 20 seconds left in the game.

Citrus calculatingly takes the ball down the court and take the shot. They miss, but get the rebound. There is 4 seconds left on the clock The Corsair fans are holding their breath. Citrus shoots again and it hits the rim and bounces straight up. The ball comes back down and it looks like it will go in with no time left on the clock. Oh no!!!

It hits the rim again and falls out. Corsairs win by one; 76-75.

Head Coach Jerome Jenkins said "We made mental mistakes, but we hung in there until it paid off for us. We wanted to wait until the last three minutes and get a little tight and we just kept playing hard. We are going to grow from this and take it one game at a time. We should be 3-0 right now."

High scorer for the Corsairs, Avery Martin, thought it was a hard-fought game." They came out doing what they do; that is dominating everybody. But we came out fighting and swinging and put the pressure on them. You could see it in their eyes that they thought they had us beat and that we were going to back down like everybody else," he said.

He further emphasized: "Citrus is a great team."

The fact that there were only about 100 fans in the stadium that night to witness the victory didn't seem to bother Martin. "It is always great to be a part of games like this. We play for the team. We play for the school. We play for us," he said.

With this win, the men are now 1-2 in the Western State Conference Southern Division and 7-13 overall. Citrus is 4-1 in the conference and 20-4 overall.

The Men Corsairs' next game will be on the road at Bakersfield College in Wednesday, January 21, 2009 where they will play the BC Renegades.

The Corsair's complete basketball schedule is on the SMC website at http://www.smc.edu/womens_basketball/schedule.htm