Knights men rally to beat MiraCosta at the buzzer

The victory — City’s 13th straight — clinches the conference championship

Knights guard Josh Williams, playing against Barstow in November, scored 17 points against MiraCosta on Feb. 16 in the Knights’ 75-73 victory over the Spartans at Harry West Gym. File Photo by Will Mauriz/City Times Media

Antonio Contreras, Multimedia Journalist

Correction: This story has been changed to reflect that Jonathan Ogugua’s game-winning shot was a jumper, not a layup. City Times regrets the error.

Down six points in the final seconds of the San Diego City College men’s basketball game against MiraCosta, all hope seemed lost for the Knights and their 12-game winning streak.

But Jonathan Ogugua’s game-winning jumper as time expired helped San Diego City College win, 75-73, extending its run of victories and also clinching the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference championship.

The Knights (22-3, 13-0) have now won nine conference championships since 2001 and moved up to No. 5 in the state rankings, according to sdcityknights.com.

Ogugua (Houston) scored 24 points with 4 steals. Josh Williams (Sacramento) added 17 points and Antony Howell (Youngtown, Ohio) led with 13 rebounds as City was able to come back from a deficit as large as 11 points at Harry West Gym on Feb. 16 in front of stands still empty due to the pandemic.

With 40 seconds remaining and the score at 73-67 in favor of the Spartans, MiraCosta’s Carter Plousha (Carlsbad) was at the free-throw line.

Plousha missed the shot, allowing the Knights to begin their comeback with a rebound from Drew Cisse (Rancho Bernardo).

City scored the final six points of the game, including the game-winning buzzer-beater to walk away with the win.

Watch the entire game below.