Palomar
misses 2 late free throws, loses by 1
SANTA
CLARITA (12-29-11) --
Palomar 's men's
basketball team dropped a 51-50 heartbreaker to
Cerritos in the third-place game at the Cougar
Holiday Classic at College of the Canyons on
Thursday.
The
Comets missed two free throws, which would have won
the game, in the closing seconds.
Joe
Vaz (above), Palomar's 7-foot-1 freshman center from
Rancho Buena Vista High School, had 16 points, nine
rebounds and two blocks.
Chris
Gorman scored 16 points. Jamal Jomnes added 10
points and six rebounds, and Chamron Morgan
contributed nine rebounds.
Palomar us 3-11 on a season which has seen the
Comets lose big leads and close games over and over.
Cerritos is 8-6.
Comets fall in OT in semis;
Gorman scores 25
SANTA CLARITA (12-28-11) --
Host College of the
Canyons overcame 25 points by Chris Gorman (left)
and a six-point halftime deficit on Wednesday night
to down Palomar 71-62 in overtime in the
championship semifinals of the Cougar Classic.
The
Comets, coming off an upset win over defending
Foothill Conference champion Chaffey in Tuesday's
first round, led 28-22 at halftime. The score was
tied after regulation 60-60.
Chamron Morgan had 13
rebounds for the Comets, 11 on the defensive board.
Joe Vaz contributed 12 points and two blocks. Gorman
also had four assists and two steals.
The Cougars, who
crushed Orange Coast 96-40 in the opening round,
advanced to 9-5 on the season. The Comets are 3-10.
Palomar will play
Cerritos, a n 82-68 loser the Antelope Valley in the
other semifinal game, in the third-place game
on Thursday at 3 p.m.
Gorman (27 points), Comets
upset Chaffey

SANTA
CLARITA (12-27-11) --
Chris Gorman (left)
pumped in 27 points and Palomar's men's basketball
team upset Chaffey 67-59 in the first round of the
Cougar Classic on Tuesday evening at College of the
Canyons.
Chamron Morgan (16 points, 16 rebounds), 7-foot-1
and Joe Vaz (right, 12 points, 10 rebounds, 3
blocks) also had big games for the Comets, who won
for the second straight game.
Jake Duffy
contributed six rebounds. Nate Coleman had five
boards.
The Comets are 3-9,
while the defending Foothill Conference champion Panthers are now 8-4.
Palomar will play in
the championship semifinals on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
vs. College of the Canyons, a 96-40 winner over
Orange Coast on Tuesday.
Gorman scores 28; Comets
rock Mesa 91-79

SAN
MARCOS (12-16-11) -- Led by
freshman guard Chris Gorman (left), who scored a game-high 28
points, Palomar knocked off San Diego Mesa 91-79 at The Dome for its
first Pacific Coast Athletic Conference victory.
The Comets saw a 19-point lead, a margin they led by
three times late in the first half, go by the boards and the
Olympians battled back to lead twice in the second half.
This
time, however, the Comets refused to be denied. After losing a
string of games after blowing leads, the Comets grabbed the lead
right back and drew away to the 12-point victory.
Chamron
Morgan (above right) hauled down 12 rebounds for Palomar, and the
Comets put five players in double figures -- Gorman, Jake Duffy (14
points), Jamal Jones (12 points), Vuk Ekmecic (10 points) and
7-foot-1 Joe Vaz (10 points).
Jones also dished off seven assists.
Gorman had five assists, Duffy four.
Gorman was 9-for-13 from the field
and also was 1-oof-12 from the free throw line. Vaz made five field
goals on six attempts and contributed five boards. By going 4-for-5
from the field and 2-for-2 from the line in only 13 minutes, Ekmecic
is 9-for-10 on field goals and 4-for-4 on free throws in his last
two games.
Austin Cloes, who has seen limited
playing time this season, turned in a strong stint off the bench as
the Comets stretched their first-half lead to 19 points.
The Comets shot 59 percent from the
field (33-for-56) and were 16-25 fore 64 percent in the second half.
Palomar (2-9, 1-3) will be off from
PCAC play until Wednesday, Jan. 4, and Friday, Jan. 6, when the
Comets visit first-place San Diego City College, then host two-time
defending champion Southwestern. In the meantime, they'll play in
the Cougar Holiday Classic at College of the Canyons on Dec. 27-29.

ABOVE: JamalJones
(21) dunks the basketball againswt MiraCosta on
Wednesday evening. -- Photo by Hugh Cox. BELOW LEFT:
Vuk Ekmecic, who went 4-for-4 from the field and finished
with 10 points and 5 rebounds. BELOW RIGHT:
Jake
Duffy knocks down one of his 4 3-pointers. -- Photo
by Hugh Cox
Palomar leads by 18 points
but loses 80-75

SAN
MARCOS
(12-14-11) --
It was a familiar story for the Palomar men's basketball team
Wednesday evening.
The Comets again were unable to hold
a lead, opening up an 18-point advantage over Highway 78 rival
MiraCosta with 15:28 to play, then dropping an 80-75 decision at the
Dome.
Palomar led 37-32 at halftime in the
Pacific Coast Athletic Conference game after being on top by 14
points. The Comets then went on a 17-4 run early in the second half
to go in front 54-36 on a basket by Vuk Ekmecic before
allowing the Spartans to come back.
Chris Gorman led the Comets (1-9, 0-3
in the PCAC) with 19 points and eight assists.
Jake Duffy scored 18 points,
including four 3-pointers, and dished off four assists.
Chamron Morgan contributed 17 points and 13 rebounds. Ekmecic went 4-for-4 from the
field. He also scored in double figures with 10 points and had five
re bounds. Nate Coleman had six rebounds. The Comets outrebounded
the Spartans 42-30 to no avail.
Andre Warren led five players in
double figures for MiraCosta with 22 points.
Comets lose
10-point lead, game to G-House

EL
CAJON
(12-9-11) --
Palomar, leading by 10 points with just under 6 minutes to play in
the first half, saw the lead and the game slip away as the Comets
dropped a 78-65 Pacific Coast Athletic Conference decision to host
Grossmont on Friday evening.
Chamron Morgan (left)
led the Comets in defeat with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Morgan, who went 8-for-11 from the field, was joined
in double figures for Palomar by Chris Gorman with 14 points and Joe
Vaz (right) with 12. Vaz and Jamal Jones had five rebounds each.
Zach Ramirez passed off for four assists.
Cory Wittick, a sophomore guard from Tesoro High
School in Rancho Santa Margarita, led the Griffins with 24 points,
going 6-for-8 on 3-pointers. Grossmont is 4-4 on the season, 1-1 in
the PCAC. The Comets fell to 1-8, 0-2.

ABOVE: Palomar guard Jake
Duffy drives around Miramar's leaping Justin Hentley (3) on
Wednesday evening at The Dome. Duffy took the ball to
the basket and scored, was fouled and converted the free
throw for a 3-point play. Photo by Hugh Cox.
BELOW LEFT:
The Comets' Chris Gorman, who led both teams with 25 points
and also dished off six assists.
Gorman, Duffy
come up big but Comets tumble
SAN
MARCOS
(12-7-11) --
Chris Gorman (25 points, six assists) and Jake Duffy (16 points, six assists) had big games against Miramar on Wednesday
evening.
But Palomar dropped its Pacific Coast Athletic
Conference opener 78-68 at the Dome as the Jets rode Sean Orlando's red-hot
shooting to a 44-31 lead.
Orlando, who was coming off his
second injury in the Palomar Thanksgiving Tournament in two seasons,
pumped through four straight 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes,
when he tallied 18 of his game-high 20 points for the Jets. He went
7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-5 from behind the 3-point arc for
the night.
The 6-foot-1 sophomore guard from
Notre Dame Prep in Phoenix had been sidelined by as concussion on
the first day of the 2010 Palomar tournament. One year later,
Orlando was again injured on the first day of the tournament.
This time, he was sidlined with a back injury.
The Comets (1-7 overall) fell further
behind in the second half Wednesday, battled back to within three
points with 8 minutes remaining in the game.
But Miramar, under one-time Palomar
starting guard Nick Gehler, who also was an assistant coach for the
Comets, won it with a late second-half surge.
Chamron
Morgan led Palomar rebounders with eight.
The Comets will try to even their
PCAC record at 1-1 when the Comets go on the road to play Grossmont
on Friday at 5 p.m.
PC trades lead
back & forth but gets bounced

SAN
MARCOS
(11-26-11) (11-27-11)--
Palomar traded the lead back and forth with Los
Angeles Trade Tech for most of the second half on
Saturday evening, but eventually was eliminated
lfrom its own tournament 83-75.
The
Comets, who have been in almost all of their games
in the second half, have been unable to put
opponents away are 1-6 on the season.
Palomar remained in
game with its free throw shooting, converting 32 of
35 attempts (91.4 percent), including an 8-for-8
performance by Chris Gorman (above left), 8-for-8 by
Jake Duffy (above right) and 6-for-6 by Vuk Ekmecic
(6-for-6).
Gorman once again
led Palomar scorers with 22 points. Duffy scored 14
points, and Ekmecic also was in double figures with
10 points.
The Comets couldn't
hold onto a 36-33 halftime lead.
In
the championship semifinals on Saturday, Yuba
defeated Eastern Arizona 91-81 in overtime and Mt.
San Jacinto downed Southweswtern 75-52. Fullerton
turned back Miramar 67-62 in the other consolatiojn
semifinal.
In Sunday's
championship game, Mt. San Jacinto defeated Yuba
85-65. Southwestern beat Eastern Arizona 59-52 in
the third-place game. L.A. Trade Tech held off
Fullerton 81-74 for the consolation title.

ABOVE:
Vuk Ekmecic sets a
pick for Chamron Morgan (20 against Eastern Arizona
on Friday evening. BELOW:
Jake Duffy scores for
the Comets. -- Photos by Hugh Cox
Eastern Arizona
avenges last season's upset
SAN MARCOS
(11-25-11) --
Eastern Arizona College from Thatcher, AZ, avenged
an opening-round upset at the hands of Palomar a
year ago as the Gila Monsters won 69-60 to begin the
Palomar Thanksgiving Tournament on Friday evening at
The Dome
Chris Gorman again led the Comets with
16 points. Jamal Jones scored 13 points. Chamron
Morgan grabbed 10 rebounds. Nate
Coleman tallied eight points.
Eastern Arizona
advanced to 7-1 on the season in a rematch of teams
that faced each other in the first round last season.
Palomar is 1-5.
The Comets will
play Los Angeles Trade Tech, which lost 104-88 to
Yuba on Friday, in the consolation semifinals at 3
pm. Saturday. The other consolation semifinal at 1
p.m. matches Miramar and Fullerton.
In the
championship semifinals, Southwestern will play Mt.
San Jacinto at 5 p.m. and Eastern Arizona faces Yuba
at 7 p.m.
Southwestern
defeated Fullerton 81-77 in its opening-round game
on Friday. Mt. San Jacinto defeated Miramar 80-72.
Comets face
Eastern Arizona on Friday night
SAN
MARCOS
(11-23-11) --
Palomar's men's basketball squad will host Eastern
Arizona College of Thatcher, AZ, on Friday at The
Dome at 7 p.m. at the Dome in the opening round of
the Palomar Thanksgiving Tournament.
The visiting Gila
Monsters, ranked 20th in the nation in the NJCAA
(non-California community colleges), come in with a
6-1 record and will try to avenge an upset loss to
the Comets one year ago.
Other first-round
games in the three-day tournament: Miramar vs. Mt.
San Jacinto at 1 p.m., College of the Desert vs.
Southwestern at 3 p.m. and Yuba vs. Los Angeles
Trade Tech at 5 p.m.
The tournament will
run through Sunday.
PC drops two (71-67 in OT, 73-67) on weird day

FULLERTON
/ SAN DIEGO
(11-19-11) --
Being forced by a scheduling
nightmare into a situation in which it had to play
two games in two cities a few hours apart on
Saturday, Palomar dropped back-to-back men's
basketball heartbreakers.
Placed in
a nearly-impossible situation when San Diego City
College changed dates of its Knights Invitational so
it conflicted with the Fullerton College Classic,
the Comets fell 71-67 to Los Angeles Southwest in
overtime at Fullerton and 73-67 to Porterville at
City College.
Against
L.A. Southwest, Chris Gorman (18 points, 7 rebounds,
7 assists), Jamal Jones (13 points, 7 rebounds),
Jake Duffy (11 points), Vaz (10 points) and Chamron
Morgan (10 points) led the Comets.
Against
Porterville, Palomar was led by Gorman (19 points),
Nate Coleman (15 points) and Morgan (10 points, 9
rebounds).
The Comets
will return to action this upcoming Friday through
Sunday when they host the Palomar College
Thanksgiving Tournament at The Dome. The Comets will
face Eastern Arizona in the feature game on Friday's
first day at 7 p.m.
Palomar beats COD, will play 2 games in 1 day
FULLERTON
(11-18-11) --
Led by
freshmen Chris Gorman (El Camino High School),
7-foot-1 center Joey Vaz (Rancho Buena Vista) and
Nate Coleman (El Camino), Palomar knocked off
College of the Desert 75-72 in the Fullerton College
Classic on Wednesday.
The win
puts the Comets into a unique situation Saturday as
they take on Los Angeles Southwest for the
consolation championship at Fullerton at 3 p.m.,
then head down I-5 to play Porterville in the
consolation semis for the Knights Invitational at
San Diego City College at 7 p.m.
In the win
over COD, Gorman scored a game-high 17 points and
passed off for four assists. Vas contributed 11
points, going 5-for-7 from the field, eight rebounds
and a block. Coleman pulled down 13 rebounds, six on
the offensive board.
Palomar
(1-2) led 43-36 at the half.
Comets could play 2 games in 1 day Saturday