Following a tournament championship in the SBCC classic the Ventura College men's basketball team traveled to Visalia to take down El Camino 77-56. In the opener of the Kirby Mannon Pepsi/Wyndham Hotel Tournament the Pirates were topped by Jamal Lewis and his 19 points while Steven Bush added 16 points to the Pirates victory. Jalon Wilson dished out five assists for Ventura.
The Pirates (8-5) were riding high off their tournament championship, Ventura came out strong in the first half of the Kirby Mannon Pepsi/Wyndham Hotel Tournament opener against El Camino. After 20 minutes of play the Pirates had put up 36 points on 47% shooting from the floor and 40% from beyond the 3-point arc. The Pirates didn't slow down in the final 20 minutes of play shooting 54% from the field in the second half and hitting on 36% of their 3-point attempts. At the 9:39 mark in the second half the Pirates held their largest advantage of the game up by 28 points before ECC was able to cut it to the final score of 77-56 for the Pirates who will advance in the winnners bracket of the tournament. Ventura dominated the game both from long range, but also in the paint where they scored 36 points and received 43 points from their bench in the victory.
Lewis and Bush topped the Pirate scorers, but Elijah Brown and Dwayne Murrill both put up nine points in the win. Ventura for the third straight game was able to produce more assists as a team then turnovers while picking up five blocks and eight steals in the victory. Trevor LaCount pulled down eight of the team 34 rebounds while Murrill hauled in seven.
Ventura will play on Dec. 19 in the winners bracket at 7:00 pm versus College of Sequoias the tournament host.