City Ends PCAC Season With 10th Straight Win

The back-to-back PCAC champion Knights put an exclamation point on the conference season with a wire-to-wire 79-60 home win over Palomar on sophomore night. They won their last 10 games and finished the PCAC season with only one loss (15-1) for the second straight year.

The Knights, who went 23-5 overall in the regular season, have not lost more than six games since 2018-19, a streak of five seasons.

Reid Celestin recorded his first double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 rebounds in Friday night's win. Marley Gonzalez had 17 points and six rebounds, while Logan Huston added 13 points and five rebounds. 

Cameron Marshall provided 14 points and two steals off the bench. 

The Knights, who finished the regular season with the No. 1 defense in the state, allowing only 60.0 points per game, put the clamps on Palomar from the get-go.

The Comets missed all but three of their first 17 field goal attempts and the Knights forced them into seven turnovers in the first nine minutes of the game.

San Diego City built a 24-12 lead during the first 12 minutes of play and went into halftime holding a 39-24 advantage with Palomar shooting 31% in the first half.

Palomar tried climbing back into the game and cut City's lead down to 11 with 9:15 remaining in the second half, but the Knights responded with a 7-0 run to end the threat of a Comets comeback.

The Knights' lead grew to as many as 28 in the closing minutes as they started to celebrate the end of another stellar conference season. 

San Diego City, which has now won three of the last four PCAC titles, has not dropped more than two conference games in any of the last five seasons.

The Knights will now turn their attention to the upcoming postseason. They advanced to the elite eight last year and will be looking to make another deep run in this year's CCCAA tournament. 

The bracket will be announced on Sunday afternoon.