Ventura College men's basketball went on a tear offensively putting up triple digits in a 100-86 win over visiting Allan Hancock College. Ventura has been in the 90 point range in four games this season, but this was the first time they reached triple digits for the 2015-16 campaign. The win was a combined team effort and sets the Pirates up for their final two games in the first trip through conference.
With the Western State Conference North setting up to be a dogfight Ventura College (12-8, 2-2) had the opportunity to pull to .500 in conference and into a third place tie with the Bulldogs. The Pirates came out slow on the offensive side of the court falling behind early to AHC at the 13:22 mark they trailed 18-14. When Jacob Alonzo hit from beyond the arc while being fouled he sunk the ensuing free throw to pull VC within one at 23-22 with 11 minutes to go. Cordel Hankerson responeded quickly after a Pirates stop on defense scoring five consecutive points to put Ventura up 27-23 as time went under 10 minutes to go in the half. With the Pirates back on top they quickly pushed on the accelerator to go up 39-31 with a 12-8 run capped by a four point play from Timm Garcia at the 3:47 mark. The Bulldogs did not go quietly to cap the first half running off their own streak to put the score at 41-40 going into halftime.
A wild close the first half set up for an exciting close to the important early season WSC North matchup. Ventura was able to push out to a 57-53 advantage at the 12:55 mark when Elijah Brown hit from 3-point range following two points for him off a jumper. The two sides were separated by just four points over the next five minutes of game time when Steven Bush drained a 3-pointer to push VC up by seven at 70-63 and set off a closing run for the Pirate offense. Ventura caught fire over the final portion of the game running off a 21-5 run over the next five minutes of game time to go up 91-75 with just 1:52 left in the game. The Bulldogs did not have another run in them to close the gap in the final two minutes and when Jalon Wilson hit from the the free throw line at the :36.8 mark Ventura took their point total into triple digits and sealed a 100-86 victory.
Ventura will be off until Saturday Jan. 23 when they will travel to Santa Barbara City College for a match up with the Vaqueros at 7:00 pm. Then on Wednesday Jan. 27 they will return to the Ventura College Athletic Event Center for a 7:00 pm match up with rival Oxnard College.