After struggling at times in the early season, and after dropping their first Western State Conference game, the Pirates' men's basketball team put together an impressive run at repeating as conference champions, winning nine of 10 games. That run came to an end Saturday at Raider Pavilion as VC fell to rival Mooraprk 77-70, relegating Ventura to a second place finish in the WSC. Jalen Young had 19 points to lead the Pirates (16-12, 9-3) while Jon McMurry had a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds. Vondel Faniel had his own double-double of 14 points and 10 boards and Ivan Dooley contributed 11 points.
Moorpark started strong racing to a 12-7 advantage with 13:55 on the clock before the Pirates responded in kind with their own 11-2 run. Faniel hit a pair of buckets in the paint to make the score 18-14 in favor of the Pirates at the 11 minute mark. The Raiders came back to retake the lead 25-22 five minutes later. Young assisted a Faniel bucket to bring VC back to within 28-27 at the 3:01 mark, but Moorpark was able to take a 35-32 lead into intermission.
There were six lead changes inthe first five minutes of the second half, with the teams seemingly trading buckets on every trip down the floor. Dooley knocked down a 3-pointer with 11:45 left in the contest to make the score 51-49, and Faniel's field goal gave VC a 53-51 edge. Moorpark took control from that point however, making the 10th lead change of the period the final one, putting together a 9-0 run over the next two minutes. When Young knocked down a pullup jumper to end the skid, the Raiders were in control. Moorpark opened up a 11-point lead with 7:00 on the clock and VC had to play catch-up, pulling to within five, 75-70, in the final minute. But time ran out on this Pirate effort, as they dropped the regular season finale 77-70.
The Pirates will now await their playoff fate. They will find out if they made the field of 20 in Southern California, and who they will play in the playoffs on Monday afternoon. Ventura's first-round game would likely be on Wednesday Feb. 26.