Glendale Community College men’s basketball downed by Citrus

GLENDALE — Subpar shooting from the Glendale Community College men’s basketball team, particularly in the first half of its Western State Conference tilt with Citrus College, resulted in its third loss of the season and its first in conference play.

The Vaqueros made just seven field goals in the first 20-minute frame and shot 30.9% for the game in the 73-55 defeat to the visiting Owls.

Citrus executed well to the tune of an impressive 58% from the field, including eight three-pointers.

Glendale Coach Brian Beauchemin, meanwhile, was not pleased with his squad’s shot selection.

“We were not executing and we we’re taking ill-advised quick shots,” said Beauchemin, whose team fell to 13-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play. “Our percentage was low because we were taking quick shots … selfish shots, I thought, and it resulted in poor offense.”

Sophomore forward Emmett Duvall led the Vaqueros with 16 points, but fouled out with 8:06 remaining in the game. Duvall’s fifth foul came shortly after Glendale went on a 12-3 run to trim a 19-point deficit down to 10 at 57-47. The Owls, however, answered the spurt and led by double-digits for the entirety of the second half.

Citrus’ Daniel Cheek led all scorers with 19 points, including five baskets from behind the arc. The Owls (9-4, 2-0) showed good balance on offense, as Chris Reyes complemented the outside shooting with 15 points inside the paint and 11 rebounds.

“He’s a good player,” said Owls Coach Chris Victor of Reyes. “We want to utilize him as best we can, whether that’s getting him the ball or getting him the ball and letting him kick it back out.”

Victor also called the victory a big one.

“This is a hard place to play, so it’s a big win,” he said. “I thought we were focused for 40 minutes. They made a run on us in the second half and we did a good job of re-focusing.”

The teams each made a run in the first half, with Citrus answering Glendale’s 9-0 run to take an 11-8 lead with a 14-2 stretch that gave the Owls a 22-13 lead, and one that would not dip lower than seven points the rest of the way.

Duvall and Emerson Castaneda each put in seven points for the Vaqueros in the first half. Castaneda, though, went scoreless in the second half. Sammy Darling became more aggressive, scoring nine of his 11 points in the latter 20-minute frame, and finished with a double-double along with 14 rebounds to lead the team.

Beauchemin will stress better movement on offense, as the Vaqueros continue conference play on Wednesday at Santa Monica College.

“Top to bottom, this conference is first or second in the state with, I think, four teams with 11 or 12 wins,” said Beauchemin, who is looking to reach the postseason for the first time in three seasons. “We need to get better on offense, be more selective and get better at running our stuff. We can’t have personal agendas, basketball is not easy one on five.”