Jaguars, Knights win at Palomar tourney

SAN MARCOS (11-25-2018) – The Palomar College Tournament wasn’t meant to be a North-South challenge of Pacific Coast Athletic Conference ballclubs, it turned out to become that way.Still, the host Comets hopes to rise into the state rankings were demolished fairly quickly.

In Saturday’s (Nov. 24) semifinals, 15th-ranked Southwestern ignited to an early double-digit lead, taking down Palomar, 75-55, to gain a berth in the championship game. The Jaguars will meet PCAC South rival San Diego City after the 13th-ranked Knights thumped San Diego Miramar, 102-72, also at the Palomar Dome.

Southwestern 75, Palomar 55:  Nikko Paranada came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points, as the visiting Jaguars mounted a 39-27 halftime lead and were never threatened in the rout of the Comets (3-3).

D Wilson and Quincy Ferebee each added 11 points for the Jags (6-2), which committed a mere eight turnovers while shooting 48 percent from the floor.

For the Comets, Antonio Green tallied 14 bench points as the Palomar starters mustered just 34 composite points on 10-for-31 sh (32 percent).

San Diego City 102, Miramar 72:  The Jets might have been caught looking ahead to playing Southwestern in the final and avenge their only loss of the season, especially after defeating a Top 5 club in Saddleback in the first round.

The Knight had other ideas, racing to a huge first-half lead in the romp. After SDCC built a modest 39-34 lead, they outscored the Jets, 12-3, to close the half with a double-digit lead and were never again challenged.

Knights guard Joseph Riley, who scored a season-high 19 points in the tournament opener, topped that performance just 24 hours later with a game-best 24 points, 16 of them coming before the intermission.

San Diego City (5-4) dominated the boards, 42-26, as Miramar (5-2) found few answers on defense with just six steals. The Jets top scorer was Damien Miller with 16.