Ventura College men's basketball team traveled to rival Oxnard College for their final regular season contest with a potential conference title on the line. VC was up for a tough test from the Condors, but prevailed with a 86-81 victory to earn their share of the Western State Conference North title. Jalon Wilson scored 20 points with Elijah Brown adding 20 points and Jacob Alonzo putting up 11 points.
At the start of the final day of the regular season three teams in the WSC North race all sat tied for first place. Cuesta and Moorpark were set to play each other while Ventura took on Oxnard. With a win the Pirates (19-9, 9-3) earned a share of the title with the winner of the MC vs. Cuesta contest.
The two teams were back and forth over the first ten minutes of game play trading the lead over the early portion of the half. When Cordel Hankerson hit for two at the 5:28 mark Ventura took a three point advantage at 29-26 and maintained their slim advantage over the next two and half minutes. The Pirates were able to push their led to 45-39 heading into half time when Wilson hit from long range as the buzzer sounded. Wilson scored 12 points in the first half with Brown adding 10 points.
Oxnard was able to cut into the Pirates advantage early in the second half getting as close as two points at the 13:10 mark. A quick run by the VC offense with Trevor LaCount scoring in the paint and Josh Watterson adding two while Alonzo hit from long range and Ventura found themselves up 62-54 with 10:45 to go. VC was able to keep distance between themselves and the Condors over the next six minutes of game play extending to a 78-68 lead with 4:19 to go in the game when Wilson hit from long range again. OC fought back, but were unable to overcome the Pirates and VC claimed a 86-81 win and their share of the WSC-North title.
Ventura played early in the day so they waited to find out the results of the MC vs. Cuesta game later in the evening, but they celebrated their first WSC-North title since 2013. Moorpark was able to down the Cougars in overtime to share the title with the Pirates.
Ventura will now await their destination for the CCCAA state playoffs to be announced. This will be the Pirates first appearance in the playoffs since 2014.