COACH CHARLENS NAMED COACH OF THE YEAR; SINGLETON AND THOMAS NAMED CO-MVP

The San Diego City College men's basketball team is coming off one of its best regular seasons in recent history after going 20-8 and winning the PCAC South championship with an undefeated 8-0 record. On Saturday, the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference announced that Mitch Charlens was named Coach of the Year and student-athletes Caleb Singleton and Martin Thomas were named Co-Most Valuable Players of the league. Christian Jones, Chris Burton, and Mike Scott were also honored by being selected to the All-PCAC South second team.

This is the fourth time during his 10-year tenure at SDCC that Charlens has been given Coach of the Year honors. He also won the award in 2004-05,  2008-09 and in 2011-12. "You don't win the Coach of the Year award without a lot of incredible people completely throwing themselves into the process," said Charlens.

"You don't win games or championships because you're a great coach. You win when you're smart enough to surround yourself with amazing people. I've surrounded myself with awesome people in all areas of my life. That is truly the source of all my success; the people doing great things all around me. My family, colleagues, student-athletes, coaching staff, friends, training staff, support staff, athletic counselor, and our athletic director. They all are a part of our wins." 

"The coaching staff--Steven Aldridge, Joe D'Ambro, and Roy Morris-- are unbelievable," said Charlens. "What they have done is take ownership of the program as if they were the head coach. Our staff is big time."

This is the fourth time (2004-05, 2008-09, 2011-12, 2013-14) that Charlens and his staff have directed the Knights to a PCAC championship and to the postseason. He has led them to at least the second round of the California Community College Athletic Association playoffs in the previous three seasons.

Caleb Singleton and Martin Thomas join an elite list of Knights that have been named conference Most Valuable Player. Stephon Lamar (2011-12) and NBA player Malcolm Thomas (2008-09) have also been given the honor. 

Singleton was second in the state in 3-point field goals made with 108. It was 50 more than the next player in the PCAC South. Singleton made 53.4 percent of his 3-point attempts in eight PCAC South games, which was first in the league, and ranked seventh in both scoring (13.3) and rebounds (5.5)

Thomas was second in the PCAC South and 16th in the state in assists per game (5.0). He was third in the state in overall steals (68) and steals per game (2.4). He averaged 9.8 points and 3.1 rebounds. 

"We had an entire team of incredible contributors," said Charlens. "There was a great deal of sacrifice from a lot of them too. Martin Thomas and Caleb Singleton absolutely deserve to be Co-MVPs of the conference. We dominated, not simply because of those two, but because we had a team full of very talented players that would pick up the slack on any given night."

Christian Jones, Chris Burton, and Mike Scott were named to the All-PCAC South second team. In conference, Jones averaged 11.2 points (14th), 3.1 assists (6th), 1.8 steals (4th) and shot 48.5 percent (4th) on 3-pointers.

Burton averaged 10.9 points on 50.0 percent (5th) shooting during conference play. He was also third in the league in total blocks with 11 and fifth in blocks per game (1.2). He averaged 10.9 points and 5.0 rebounds.

Scott was eighth in the league in scoring (13.8). He was second in 3-pointers made (16) and third in 3-point percentage (48.5). He averaged 13.8 points which was eighth in the PCAC South.

"Ivan Kulkin, Chris Jones, Mike Scott, and Chris Burton all took over at different points to win games for us," Charlens said. "Then Carl Flamer, Dion Johnson, Amir Hicks, Stacey Lambert, and Yaseen Elmeligui all provided sparks for us when we needed it. We don't go undefeated without each and every one of these guys. It has been an incredible year. Let's see what kind of ruckus we can cause in the playoffs."