Taking on cross-county rival Oxnard College in the third place match-up Ventura College men's basketball team picked up at 91-83 victory. All-Tournament selection Elijah Brown put up 31 points in the win, his first 30+ point performance of the season. Two more Pirate starters scored in double digits with Jamal Lewis adding 11 points and Trevor LaCount scoring 10.
The Pirates (9-6) looked to respond from a tough loss in the semi-finals to College of Sequioas by bring home their third top-three finish at a tournament this winter, at the Kirby Mannon Pepsi/Wyndham Hotel Tournament. VC came out early and jumped to a 4-0 advantage before OC was able to tie the game at 8-8 with 14:43 to go in the first half. The two teams remained tied until Ventura went on a 7-3 run to take a 18-14 advantage at the 11:06 mark. The Pirates held the advantage for the rest of the first half stretching it as large as seven points during the final 10 minutes of the first half. Before going into the break with a 42-36 advantage over the Condors. VC struggled from the field in the first half similar to their struggles against College of Sequioas shooting just 39%, but their aggressive defensive forced nine turnovers and their work on the offensive boards helped Ventura to remain on top.
The second half proved to be more of the same for the Pirates offense as they continued to struggle from the field, but their ability to stretch the court and hit from 3-point range helped Ventura to hold off the Condors. VC put up 49 points in the second half still shooting just 40% from the field, but hitting on 60% of their 3-point attempts in the half pushed the Pirates over the top. OC never was able to gain any traction in forcing their way back into the game as Brown poured in 21 of his 31 points for the game during the final 20 minutes.
While Ventura did experience some offensive struggles shooting they did find success at the free throw line hitting on 85.3% of their 34 free throw attempts. Where the Pirates separated best from OC came from long range with Ventura hitting on 10 of 27 3-point attempts to the Condors 4 of 17 from long range.
LaCount came up just one rebound short of a double-double as he hauled in nine rebounds. Vida Faniel added eight points and eight rebounds to the Pirates win. Ventura as a team dished out 16 assists with four different Pirates picking up multiple assists.
Ventura wraps up their winter tournament slate with a tournament championship (SBCC Classic), a runner-up finish (We Play Hard Tournament) and a third place finish (Kirby Mannon Pepsi/Wyndham Hotel Tournament). The Pirates will have one final tune-up before the start Western State Conference North play. On Wednesday Dec. 30 Ventura will travel to Riverside City College for a 5:00 pm game. The match-up will pit former Ventura College head basketball coach Phil Matthews against his former point guard and current Ventura College head basketball coach Joey Ramirez.