Elijah Brown poured in 26 points for the Ventura College men's basketball team, but they were unable to overcome the Huskies of East Los Angeles College in a 89-84 defeat. Brown hauled in six rebounds as well to go with two assists, two steals and a block.
VC entered the Gregg Anderson Memorial Classic with a 4-3 record and were set to take on the 6-0 Huskies. Brown's outstanding offensive performance fronted the Pirates attack against the No. 8-ranked team in California staying within two scores both at the half and down to the final buzzer. Steven Bush was able to put up 15 points for the Pirates with Cordel Hankerson adding in 11 points of his own to make for a trio of double digit scorers for VC. Hankerson pulled down four rebounds to go with his double digit scoring.
Jalon Wilson set up the Pirate offensive attack with his four assists tops for VC in the game with Jamal Lewis picking up a pair of assists. Ventura was able to hit on 10 of 34 3-point attempts in the game and converted on 22 of their 29 free throw attempts.
The difference in the game was found on the boards where VC was out-rebounded 38-32 and allowed for the Huskies to get 10 offensive rebounds. Josh Watterson pulled down nine rebounds to top Ventura. The Pirates made up for it with the aggressive defensive pressure which has been a staple of their season by forcing ELAC into 14 turnovers to stay within striking distance of the Huskies.
Ventura will return to action on Saturday Dec. 5 with a 1:00 pm game against 1-3 Glendale College. They will then wrap up the Gregg Anderson Memorial Classic on Sunday Dec. 6.