This was way too good a game to be played at 4 p.m. on a Monday in front of a half-full Torrey Pines High School gym.
But Torrey Pines boys basketball coach John Olive likes to play the early game when he's the host school.
So here were No. 4 Torrey Pines (8-1) and No. 3 San Marcos (11-1) squaring off in the first game of Tip-Off Night of The Holiday Classic, a four-game event that featured six of San Diego's top 10 teams.
The Knights and Falcons got The Holiday Classic off to a rousing start, with San Marcos using an 11-2 run to start the fourth quarter to take the lead, then hanging on for a 63-59 win.
The win was San Marcos' 10th in a row. The only loss is to Montgomery.
"Torrey Pines is a machine," said San Marcos coach Dante Carey. "They're disciplined, tough. They play the game the right way.
"And John Olive is a legend. So to beat Torrey Pines in their house is big."
The game was tied or the lead changed hands 29 times before the Knights took charge in the fourth quarter. Jalen Williams scored seven of his team-high 18 points and Nico Mott scored four of his 12 in the final stanza.
Williams finally decided the game with a pair of free throws with 3.7 seconds to play.
"This is my third year, and we've been in big games before," Williams said. "When you play on a good team, you're expected to make clutch free throws."
Cody Shen, who is coming up on 100 career games played at Torrey Pines, led all scorers with 29 points. He had just two in the first half, but scored 19 of his team's 21 in the third quarter. And had eight in the fourth quarter to keep the Falcons in the game.
Zain Mehio had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Torrey Pines.
The bulk of San Marcos' team is underclassmen. Williams is a junior, Mott is a sophomore. Jackson McCall, who had 12 points and six rebounds, is a sophomore.
Mike Brown, the broad-shoulder enforcer inside, is a junior. So is Ty Sagaser, one of the top players on the football team.
And leading scorer Richie Ramirez, who averages 16.2 points a game, is a sophomore.
Ramirez scored four points in the first quarter, then didn't score again.
"Teams pay a lot of attention to Richie and it opens things up for the rest of us," Mott said. "He's not too big to play defense and look for the open man when they try to take him away."
Sagaser, who came out late for basketball after the football team made a deep run in the playoffs, played his best game and the most minutes this season, finishing with six points and five rebounds.
"I don't have my basketball legs yet, but it's coming," Sagaser said. "I've been in the program for three years and my role is to come off the bench, step up, play with energy and play defense."
The Knights and Falcons came into the Tip-Off Night game with different strategies.
San Marcos played four games last week, winning them all en route to capturing the North County Conference Tournament.
Torrey Pines took the weekend off from games, choosing to practice instead.
"No one knows what's the best strategy," Sagaser said. "Personally, I think it's better to play. But this was a great game, a close game. So who really knows."
The Holiday Classic tournament starts Thursday, with Montgomery and Carlsbad in the National Division and San Marcos, Mission Bay and La Jolla Country Day in the American Division.