SAN MARCOS -- Cross-town rivalries can bring out the best and worst in teams.

For most of the game Tuesday night, a struggling MiraCosta College men's basketball team was at its best against rival Palomar.

Down the stretch, however, Palomar found its rhythm to overcome a 12-point MiraCosta advantage and beat the Spartans 75-72 in overtime to start the second round of Pacific Coast Conference play.

The win, Palomar's sixth in a row, moved the Comets to 13-9 overall, 7-2 in the conference and tied for first place with Imperial Valley.

MiraCosta, which beat Palomar to open conference play, fell to 3-16, 2-7.

"Our plan was to not let their shooters shoot good shots," said MiraCosta coach Pat Conahan. "We couldn't let 14 (Matt Refner), 4 (Dwayne Davis) and 23 (E.J. Ross) get in a rhythm.

"And in the first half, we did a great job (holding the Comets to 1-for-15 from behind the 3-point arc). In the second half, they got better shots and got into a rhythm."

Palomar was 4-for-10 shooting 3-pointers in the second half, and Ross hit a big trey in overtime.

"Wow -- 1-for-15. We never shoot like that," said Palomar coach John O'Neill. "But that's what a cross-town rivalry game does to players.

"In the second half, we made a real effort to get the ball inside. When we did that, we got better outside shots.

"We were pretty far down, but we told the players it was like chopping down a tree. If you keep chopping, eventually, it will come down."

MiraCosta used a 13-0 run to open an 11-point lead early in the game and was ahead 39-27 with 15:33 to play in the game.

Palomar used a 25-6 run over the next eight minutes to forge ahead 52-45.

MiraCosta tied the game at 55 on a Tim Lavender basket with 4:05 to play, but Palomar opened a five-point lead on a Jose Orona free throw and baskets by Orona and Uros Vukovich.

But a 3-pointer by Thomas Kearns and a bucket by Lavender with 15 seconds remaining sent the contest into overtime.

Davis and Ross were the keys for Palomar in the overtime with Davis scoring five and Ross six.

MiraCosta's Daniel Phair led all scorers with 20 points, while Lavender added 19.

Davis paced Palomar with 18 points, while Ross had 14. Vukovich grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and George Jovanic had 11.

"We control our destiny now," O'Neill said. "It's going to be a tough second round, but we don't need any help to get it down."

- Staff writer John Maffei can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.