Knights March Into Sweet Sixteen!!

The No. 5 seeded Knights (24-5) are moving on to the sweet sixteen for the fifth time in the last six seasons after a wire-to-wire 79-70 home victory over No. 12 Saddleback (15-15) with Dylan Griffin and Junior Camacho each posting 20-point double-doubles.

The Knights, who have won 15 straight, will travel to play at No. 4 Ventura College (25-4) on Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to the 3C2A state championship quarterfinals, which will be held at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Calif. from March 13-15.

In Saturday night's win over Saddleback, PCAC Player of the Year Griffin led the Knights with 29 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and two blocks, while Camacho totaled 20 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists.

The crowd was raucous from the tip due in large part to San Diego City's baseball team which brought plenty of enthusiasm after their win earlier in the day. 

The Knights responded by playing intense defense that helped them jump out to a 14-2 lead within the first seven minutes. 

Saddleback, which missed 10 of its first 11 shots, recovered midway through the first half to cut City's lead down to 21-17, but the game did not stay that close for long. 

The Knights hit back with a 9-0 run, the last seven of which were scored by Griffin, to push their lead back up to double digits. 

San Diego City held an 11-point lead at halftime and then grabbed its largest lead of the game early in the second half when Griffin found Andrew Azebeokhai Jr for a 3-pointer to give the Knights a 49-31 advantage with 16:14 remaining.

The Knights remained in control the rest of the game as they shot 62.5% in the second half while holding Saddleback to 39.4%. 

The only time Saddleback got within single digits in the second half was in the final 10 seconds. 

San Diego City's win avenged an earlier buzzer-beating loss to Saddleback on Dec. 13. 

The Knights have gone 17-2 since that date with the only other loss coming at the hands of No. 1 seed Fullerton on Dec. 30.

City's next opponent, Ventura, won the Western State-North Conference with an 11-1 record and defeated No. 13 East Los Angeles, 91-73, on Saturday to set up next week's sweet sixteen matchup. 

The last meeting against Ventura occured on Nov. 16, 2024 with the Knights holding on for an 80-75 home win. 

The Knights will be looking to advance to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2024 and for the fifth time in the Mitch Charlens era.

Admission for the March 7 playoff at Ventura College 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.

The game will be live-streamed on YouTube by SoCalCollegeSports.com.