Knights Get Past LBCC, 88-72, to Advance to Regional Final

San Diego City's men's basketball team has advanced to a CCCAA Southern California regional final after getting past 20-seed Long Beach City, 88-72, in the second round on Thursday night. The 4-seeded Knights (26-3), who have now won 17 in a row, will host 21-seed MiraCosta on Saturday, March 5 at 7 p.m. for a chance to reach the state championship quarterfinals for the third time in the last five seasons.

All five starters for the Knights scored in double figures, including sophomore Makiah Morris who led the Knights with 19 points. He went 7-of-10 from the field, including 3-for-3 from 3-point land, and grabbed four rebounds. 

Freshman Josh Williams scored 13 points, 11 of which came in the first half. Sophomore and PCAC MVP Jonathan Ogugua scored 13 points and dished out a game-high six assists. 

As usual sophomore Drew Cisse had an impact on both end of the floor as he recorded a double-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds, five steals, two blocks, and two assists. Anthony Howell added 10 points and two assists.

The Knights came out hot in the first half, shooting 66.7% from the floor, including 5-of-7 on 3s, while holding Long Beach to 35.5%. San Diego City turned an early 2-point lead into a 13-point advantage with an 11-2 run in a 3:30 span. The Knights then used a 15-3 spurt late in the first half to take a 45-22 lead with 6:38 left in the half. 

City's lead grew to 24-points before Long Beach cut it to 57-40 at halftime.

Long Beach, led by Bonard Johnson's 19 points, started the second half with a 9-3 run in the first three minutes to get within 11 points. The Vikings kept fighting to stay in the game, but Morris knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers that were followed by a Howell layup and an Ogugua jumper to push the Knights' lead back up to 77-55 with 10:53 remaining. 

The Vikings did make another run to get within 13 points with 4:40 left, but they missed three straight jumpers. Ogugua then hit a jumper and Cisse got a steal and a fast break dunk to seal the win.

The Knights ended up shooting 56.7% for the game and held the Vikings to 37.5%.

Freshman Noah Viera led City's bench effort with eight points and eight rebounds. Taleh Wade added five points off the bench. 

Saturday's regional final will be the fourth meeting of the season between the Knights and PCAC-rival MiraCosta (16-14) with City winning the previous three games. Two of those games came down to the wire with Williams hitting a jumper with four seconds left to win, 81-79, on November 5 and Ogugua knocking down an off-balance jumper as time expired to win, 75-73, on February 16. The Knights won handily, 91-58, at MiraCosta on January 19. 

The winner of Saturday's game, which will be live-streamed on the Knights' YouTube channel, will advance to the CCCAA state championship quarterfinals, which will be held at West Hills College-Lemoore from March 11-13.

Admission for the playoffs is $12 for the general public and $8 for students, faculty, staff, senior citizens age 60 and over, and children less than 12 years of age. Masks must be worn at all times unless actively eating or drinking.

Southern California Regional Bracket