Owls Open Conference With Victory

No. 28-ranked Citrus College opened Western State Conference action Wednesday night with an 89-62 road victory over Bakersfield College.

The Owls improve to 10-5 on the year and 1-0 in conference play, while the Renegades drop to 9-5 overall and 0-1 in the WSC.

JJ Mitchell went off and finished with a career-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting. Tyrel Creger followed with 23 points (9-for-13), while Malik Khouzam rounded out the Owls in double figures with 14 points (6-for-15).

Citrus shot 49.3 percent from the floor as a team and scored 31 points off 23 turnovers from Bakersfield.

The Owls opened with the first eight points of the game to set the tone early and never looked back. Rudy Suarez got the game going with a three-pointer off the first possession of the game before Mitchell stole the ball away and got an and-one to keep the run going.

Citrus built a 53-25 lead at halftime and despite Bakersfield trying to battle back, kept its distance to seal the victory.

The Owls look to keep momentum rolling as they head to Santa Monica College on Saturday at 1 p.m.