AWC men's basketball - Palomar Thanksgiving Tournament preview

No. 11 Arizona Western at Palomar College (Calif.)

Tipoff: 7 p.m. today.

Last game: AWC won its conference home opener Saturday 73-58 against Pima. The Comets beat Santa Barbara City College 80-70 on the road Friday.

Records: AWC (5-0 overall, 2-0 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference); Palomar (4-2 overall, 0-0 Pacific Coast Conference)

Players to watch: Matador guard Austin Turner has been an early offensive provider, scoring most of his points in the opening minutes of each half of play. ... Comets freshman Ross Williams is a Maryland native and the team's leading scorer.

AWC coach Kelly Green's comments: "I'm hoping it will be a good experience for us. We get an opportunity to get off campus for a few days and play some teams that we wont see later in the year. I've heard very good things about his tournament and I'm glad we got invited to go. It'll be good to be in a true tournament-type atmosphere"

The lowdown:  The Matadors head to the Palomar/Mission Federal Thanksgiving Tournament in northern San Diego County this weekend hoping to return to conference play next week with three more wins. AWC only has two guaranteed games however, needing a win either Friday or Saturday night to play a game Sunday. The Matadors will practice in the morning today and Friday before making just their second road trip of the season. AWC's opponent for Saturday has not been determined, but it will be either Saddleback College or Pasadena City College ... AWC's two wins last week were impressive enough to move the Matadors up another four spots in Wednesday's polls ... Ewell got his first minutes of the season on Saturday. His hometown of Sun City is about an hour away from the tournament ... Green was frustrated about his team's effort after Saturday's game, including himself and his coaching staff for not doing their jobs. He said some players were playing too many minutes and having to pace themselves, and coaches are  responsible to get a maximum effort out of their players and substitute them at the right moments ... The Comets return three players from their team a year ago ... Though not a member of the NJCAA like all other California-based schools, Palomar has already pulled off an upset over a ranked team, beating California Community College Athletic Association's No. 7 ranked Irvine Valley.