Ventura College men's basketball team opened Western State Conference North play with a home match up against the Cuesta Cougars falling 67-65. Elijah Brown accounted for 25 of the Pirates points while Jalon Wilson added 12 with Timmy Garcia putting in 11 points. Wilson dished out five assists with Brown picking up four of his own.
Fresh off a 6-1 run over the last few weeks of non-conference play Ventura (10-7) looked to remain hot as they opened WSC North play. VC got off to a good start taking a 4-0 lead very early, but Cuesta went off in the first 16 minutes of play stretching their advantage to 31-19 before Ventura got on track offensively. Facing a large deficit the Pirates picked up a three from Brown, then another from Garcia, before Wilson hit from beyond the arc to get to within 31-28 with a minute to go. Then with aWilson bucket followed by Brown hitting at the buzzer the Pirates capped a 13-1 run to tie the game at 32-32 going into the half. Brown put in 12 points in the first half with Wilson second at nine points.
Ventura built off their torrid close to the first half to go on a 7-3 run to start the second half and go up 39-35 at the 17:19 mark. The Cougars though overtook the Pirates over the next five minutes when Ventura was able to get the game tied on a Brown bucket, but Cuesta responded quickly to hold the advantage at 49-47 with 11:57 to play. The two teams though went cold from the field for the next three minutes of play before finally VC went on top when Wilson hit from long range to put Ventura up 50-49, but Cuesta responded quickly to go back up 53-50 before another Brown bucket made it 53-52 with 6:48 to play. Garcia tied the game at 57-57 with 4:09 to go on a three, just the first big three he connected on during the second half. Then Wilson hit a layup in transition to put VC up 59-57 with 3:52 to go. A defensive miscue by the Pirates and a turnover on offensive allowed Cuesta to get back ahead 63-59 before a VC timeout. Trailing 65-62 after Cuesta hit on a pair of free throws with :24 left the Pirates went quickly up the court and Garcia hit from beyond the arc again to tie the game at 65-65 with just :17 seconds left. The quick bucket gave the Cougars time to respond and when VC was whistled for a foul with just :03 left Cuesta hit on both free throws to claim a 67-65 road win over the Pirates.
Ventura overall struggled shooting hitting on just over 38% of their shots, but hit on 33% from long range helping them to stay in the game. By pressuring the Cougars on defense forcing 16 turnovers with seven steals the Pirates overcame their disadvantage on the boards to Cuesta.
Ventura will now travel to Moorpark College on Saturday Jan. 9 to take on the Raiders in a 5:00 pm match up. They will then be on the road again against Los Angeles Pierce College on Wednesday Jan. 13 at 7:00 pm before returning home to host Allan Hancock College Saturday Jan. 16 at 7:00 pm.