The Knights were looking to win the Palomar Thanksgiving Tournament championship for the third consecutive year on Sunday night, but they were edged by PCAC-rival Southwestern, 84-78, in overtime, and had to settle for second place.
Sophomores Joseph Riley and Khor Tut led the Knights with 12 points a piece. Khor added six rebounds and was named to the all-tournament team along with freshman Nashom Carter who added 11 points and three assists.
City got to the title game by getting past Santiago Canyon, 68-64, and blowing out Miramar, 102-72. Riley led the way offensively in both of those games with 19 points against Santiago Canyon and a season-high 24 against Miramar.
The Knights trailed by a point late in the first half of the championship game against Southwestern, but closed the final 2:52 with a 12-4 run and went into the locker room with a 40-33 halftime lead.
That momentum carried over to the first couple minutes of the second half as the Knights grabbed their largest lead of the game, 49-37, on a 3-pointer from Carter with 18:01 remaining.
Southwestern, led by Jose Serrano's 25 points and 10 rebounds, came right back with a 14-3 spurt over the next 2:32 to get back to within one point at 52-51. The Jaguars later went on a 14-2 run to take a 10-point lead with less than 10 minutes to go.
The Knights hit back with a 15-5 surge in which they hit three 3-pointers to tie it up at 70-70 with three minutes left.
Riley had a chance to give the Knights the lead in the closing seconds, but missed a layup in traffic.
The teams traded buckets for the first two minutes of overtime and were tied at 78-78 after a Victor Irhirhi layup with 2:53 on the clock, but that turned out to be City's final points.
Serrano scored four the Jaguars' final six points on a transition layup and dunk to give them the tourney championship.
It was the Knights' first loss to Southwestern since February 27, 2015, a streak of six games.
They will meet again at Southwestern on January 25 during conference season and again on February 15 at City.
The Knights will now turn their attention to the Grossmont tournament, which begins on Friday, Nov. 30. City will open that tournament against College of the Desert on Friday at 7 p.m.
