Ventura College men's basketball dropped their consolation round match up with Long Beach City College 83-68. Ventura was paced by Vida Faniel who poured in 17 points with three other Pirates scoring in double digits. VC went 1-2 in the Irvine Valley Classic.
Facing off in an early afternoon game Ventura and Long Beach played to a 36-36 tie in the first half of play. VC was able to find some success from beyond the 3-point arc during the first half as they hit on 31 percent of their attempts while in total scoring at a 45 percent clip from the field in the first half. The game reversed trends though for VC in the second half as they were not able to score consistently enough to stay with LBCC who went on to claim a 15 point win over the Pirates. Ventura stayed aggressive from beyond the arc, but was unable to hit at the same rate in the second half of play while also seeing their overall field goal percentage drop.
For the first time this year the Pirates were unable to win the battle on the boards which allowed for the Vikings to halt the Pirates from finding put back points in the game. The Pirates were led by Jacob Alonzo with six rebounds while Faniel and Dwayne Murrill each picked up five rebounds. Ventura was still aggressive on the defensive end forcing double digit turnovers out of LBCC and collecting five team steals. Alonzo collected three of those steals to go with his three assists and 11 points in the game.
Elijah Brown added 13 points, four assists and three rebounds. Steven Bush was the final Pirate to score in double digits with 11 points.
Ventura will head back out on the road for their next match up to take on Los Angeles Valley College in a 6:00 pm game. Then they will travel to the High Desert where they will play in the Gregg Anderson Memorial Tournament at Antelope Valley College Dec. 4,5 and 6.