Ventura College men's basketball team climbed to a So Cal No. 12 ranking following a big win over previously undefeated Cuesta. Taking on rival and So Cal No. 13 ranked Moorpark College the Pirates were unable to hold off a late Raider rally falling 73-70. Elijah Brown topped VC with 18 points, Trevor LaCount added 15 points and seven rebounds with Cordel Hankerson adding 13 points.
The Pirate vs. Raider rivalry game took on another level of importance in a late season Western State Conference North match up. Pairing up two So Cal ranked teams in the thick of a conference title race the game was sure to be anything but boring. The two teams did not fail to disappoint. With an appearance from former VC great and NBA Slam Dunk champion Cedric Ceballos there was plenty of excitement in the air.
Ventura (15-9) was able to start the game off hot going up 9-2 when Brown scored off a turnover forcing MC into their first timeout. Moorpark pulled back into the game at 15-14, but Hankerson was fouled on a 3-point attempt and hit on all three shots to go back up by four. Moorpark rallied quickly to overtake the Pirates 26-21 at the 5:54 mark when VC took a timeout. Out of the timeout the Pirates scored on a LaCount dunk and a Jacob Alonzo put back to go back up 27-26 with 4:06 to go in the half. Ventura was able to hold onto the advantage going into the half up 34-32.
The start of the second half saw the Pirates dominte the early portion of the half going up by ten points at the 15:27 mark and continued to attack with Ventura going up by 14 with 13:37 to go. The Pirates were able to hold onto a 14 point advantage even under the nine minute mark at 61-47 when the VC offense started to go cold. The Raiders ran off a 10-2 run to get within six points and closed to within three points at 4:56 to go. VC clung to small advantage over the next three minutes before the Raiders finally regained the lead with 1:20 to go at 70-68 and held off the Pirates over the last 80 seconds of play for the win.
The loss drops the Pirates two games back of first place Cuesta College and keeps the Pirates one game behind the Raiders for second place with four games left in WSC North play. VC will face off with the four teams behind them in the conference standings with Cuesta and Moorpark set to face off later in the month.
VC will host Los Angeles Pierce College on Saturday Feb. 6 for a 7:00 pm game at the Ventura College Athletic Event Center.