Fullerton College men’s basketball fought tooth and nail at home in double overtime, emerging on top, winning by three points against Citrus College.
Sophomore guard Yoda Oke opened the game strong with a straight-away drive to the basket, earning the Hornets the first two points of the game. Fullerton had two steals early on by guards Trey Thompson and Jaqari Miles, which resulted in four more points for the Hornets.
The Hornets maintained a steady lead in the first half, but the Owls kept the Hornets on their toes. Within the first few possessions, Citrus was beating Fullerton down the court, but their shots were falling short. The Hornets were able to keep their lead by moving the ball with 7 assists by halftime.
Both Head Coach Perry Webster and lead scorer Yoda Oke emphasised that the Hornets were focusing on sharing the ball more and working as a team due to the loss they took in their previous game.
“Our last game, we didn’t share the rock that well. It was really stagnant,” said Oke. “If we keep moving the ball, it’s a lot easier for us to score.”
In the second half, the Hornets maintained that same energy. In the first five minutes, the team had nearly a 20-point lead, starting strong with an assist from Thompson to guard Donovan Pitts, who hit a three-point shot during an inbound play, along with another three-point shot from Miles up top.
Forward Brayden Smith had the crowd going wild with back-to-back slam dunks with assists from Thompson and an alley oop from Oke.
Fullerton guard MJ Smith stole the ball twice within two possessions, throwing an assist to guard Bishop Brooks on a fast break and dishing the ball to Oke on another fast break, who finished it off with another dunk.
The Owls weren’t backing down and began pressuring much harder on their full-court press, which led to multiple turnovers from the Hornets.
The Hornets were getting double-teamed and were having a difficult time moving the ball up, leading to a few jumpballs and out-of-bounds passes.
Defence began to get shaky for the Hornets, and the Owls managed to get multiple straight away drives and a few three-point shots up, allowing them to start evening up the match.
“We had the lead, and we kind of let off the gas a little bit,” said Oke. “We were tired, but that’s not an excuse.”
Both teams were aggressive and had been in bonus fouls for the majority of the second half. By the three-minute mark, both teams had over 10 fouls, so free throws were crucial, but the Hornets were struggling.
Leo Ricketts, the lead scorer for Citrus, hit a three-point shot with just minutes left in the game, giving the Owls their first lead of the night. Pitts was fouled and made one of his free throws, tying up the game again.
Citrus was fouled again and made both of their free throws, which gave them a two-point lead. Oke pulled off a two-point shot, sending both teams into overtime with a score of 93-93.
“We gave them way too many chances in that game,” said Webster. “We should have won that game in regulation.”
The Owls got the ball in the tip-off but quickly began fouling, which led to more free-throw opportunities for the Hornets; one out of two was made by Smith.
Pitts scored two points on a fast break, but the Owls were dominating on the boards, giving them more second-chance opportunities.
Miles and Oke were both fouled again, and each made one out of two of their free throws. Both teams called for timeouts, and overtime ended 102-102.
During double overtime, the Hornets and the Owls were driving to the paint on both ends of the court, but yet again, fouls were severely hurting both teams. Thompson for the Hornets, as well as two other players for Citrus, fouled out of the game.
The Hornets were able to lock in their free throws in the end, with Miles going 2/2 at the line. Miles was then fouled again and made one out of two, giving the Hornets a three-point lead.
The Owls tried to hit a three-point shot with seconds left in the game to go into triple overtime, but the shot didn’t drop, and the Hornets took the 116-113 win. Oke, along with Pitts and Miles, scored over twenty points, which was the X factor in the win for Fullerton.
“We came together as a group,” said Oke. “We huddle and tell each other this is what we need to do, win or lose, we ride for each other.”