Ventura College men's basketball took down Imperial Valley College 74-50 in the Irvine Valley Tournament. Elijah Brown topped the Pirates with 15 points while four other Pirates scored in double figures. Josh Watterson pulled down 11 rebounds in the win.
One day after falling in their tournament opener the Pirates responded with an all-around effort. With four different VC players collecting double digit points topped by Brown and joined by Watterson with 14, Dwayne Murrill with 12 and Vida Faniel adding 11. The four players alone outscored Imperial Valley in the win. After struggling from beyond the arc in their opener the Pirates utilized a close range attack hitting on 43 percent of their shots in the game to pick up the large win. Jacob Alonzo helped to set up the VC offensive attack with six assists while Brown contributed beyond just his point total with four assists of his own.
VC has played an aggressive brand of defense and showed their tougness on the boards in the early part of the season and this game proved no different. Jalon Wilson picked up three steals with Murrill and Alonso each adding two to go with Cordel Hankerson also having two steals. In total the Pirates were able to pick up 11 steals in the game, while forcing 17 turnovers. Imperial not only struggled to maintain control of the basketball, but saw 10 of their shots blocked. Murrill and Hankerson topped Ventura with three blocks while Murrill and Trevor LaCount each picked up two blocks. VC outrebounded IVC 53 to 37 including 18 on the offensive side of the court. Watterson was huge on the boards, but Brown and Alonzo both contributed seven rebounds to the Pirates effort.
With the win the Pirates are now 1-1 in the tournament and will close out their weekend on Saturday Nov. 21 in the consolation championship against Long Beach at 12;00 pm. The Pirates will then return to action on Tuesday Nov. 24 with a road game at Los Angeles Valley College set for a 6:00 pm tip.