Knights Reach Sweet Sixteen for 4th Straight Season

The No. 2 seed Knights (25-4) are moving on to their fourth straight sweet sixteen after defeating No. 15 seed Pasadena City, 87-69, in the second round of the 3C2A Southern California regionals with Keavie Love scoring a season-high 19 points, along with five rebounds, off the bench. San Diego City will now host No. 10 seed Allan Hancock College in a regional final on Saturday, March 9 at 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to the state championship quarterfinals, which will be held at Mt. San Antonio College from March 15-17.

As they've been doing all season, the Knights turned up their intensity on both ends of the court in the second half against Pasadena (19-11) to pull away, but it wasn't easy. 

Pasadena got off to a good start in the first half and went ahead 14-7 with the Knights struggling offensively as they missed 12 of their first 15 shots. Love, who scored 10 first-half points, put in his first layup of the game at the 12:44 mark of the first half that started a 12-4 run to give City a 19-18 lead with 9:58 left.

The teams traded buckets over the next five minutes, and were tied at 26-26, but City scored 10 straight points that included two thunderous Alex Crawford dunks to get their first double-digit lead.

Pasadena, however, hit two 3-pointers in the final 1:21 to cut the Knights' lead down to 38-34 at the half. 

With the Knights holding on to a 44-41 lead three minutes into the second half, a Kevin Moore jumper sparked another 10-0 run that included back-to-back 3s by KJay Bradley to give them a 13-point advantage.

Myles Watkins, who led Pasadena with 21 points, got his team within 10 on a dunk with 13:45 left, but both teams went ice cold over the next four minutes with neither able to score a point during that stretch.

Dillon Cubit finally ended City's drought by hitting a pair of free throws at the 9:50 mark.

Pasadena hung around and were only down by 11 with 8:18 remaining, but the Knights put together an 11-3 spurt over the next three minutes to put the game away.

The Knights' defense was the difference-maker after halftime as they forced Pasadena into 11 second-half turnovers (18 overall). They also held Pasadena to just one field goal over an 8:14 stretch in the second half to help them win their ninth straight.

San Diego City improved to 25-4, which marks the third time in the last four seasons that it has reached 25 wins.

Crawford finished the game with 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting and blocked four shots, while Al Green added 15 points, three rebounds, and three assists.

Bradley, the PCAC Player of the Year, scored 14 points with a team-high eight rebounds and six assists.

Next Saturday's regional final against Allan Hancock (24-6) will be the second meeting of the season. The Knights won the first matchup, 78-67, on November 19 on Allan Hancock's home court in a game the Knights controlled throughout.

Since that game, Allan Hancock has gone 20-4 with a 16-game win streak mixed in. The No. 10 seed Bulldogs defeated No. 21 Antelope Valley in the first round of the Southern California regionals and then got past No. 7 Santiago Canyon, 62-55 in the second round.

The Knights will be looking to advance to the elite eight for the first time since 2018 when they made it all the way to the state championship final, one year after winning the state title.

Admission for the Saturday's playoff at Harry West Gym 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 the Knights' YouTube channel.

Southern California Regional Bracket