Returning to their home court the Ventura College men's basketball team collected a 76-68 victory over visiting LA Pierce. Elijah Brown topped the Pirates with 15 points and added in seven rebounds to go with six assists. Steven Bush returned from injury to put up 11 points. Trevor LaCount and Jalon Wilson both added in ten points with Wilson dishing out five assists.
Ventura (16-9, 6-3) had fallen two games back of first place and out of a second place tie with Moorpark following a Wednesday night stunning loss to the Raiders. Ventura came out sluggish looking to remain in the thick of playoff and conference championship race falling behind 10-2 before a Pirate timeout. VC responded with a 10-5 to get within three points at 14:11 to go in the half. The Pirates tied it 17 and took the lead for the first time at 22-19 when Bush hit from 3-point range at the 8:53 mark. Ventura never relinquished the advantage. With 2:31 to go in the half Timmy Garcia hit from 3-point range and the Pirates were now up 35-26. The Pirates kept their nine point advantage going into the half.
When the second half started the VC offense looked quickly to pull away from the Brahmas. 3-pointers from Jamal Lewis and Brown pushed VC up by 14 points their largest advantage of the night. VC was able to keep the Brahmas at bay over the final portion of the second half to bring home the win.
The Pirate victory became even more important when first place Cuesta fell to Santa Barbara later in the night. With the Cougars loss it gives the Pirates an opportunity to claw back into the championship race. With Cuesta and Moorpark tied with two losses to each other and Ventura sits just one game behind.
Ventura has just three games left in the regular season beginning with a 7:00 pm game at Allan Hancock College. They will then host Santa Barbara at 7:00 pm in the Ventura College Athletic Event Center.