Sophomore Cordel Hankerson netted a game-high 28 points as the Pirates' men's basketball team overcame a halftime deficit to win its season opener 93-84 over Los Angeles Valley in the first round of the We Play Hard Tournament at the Athletic Event Center. The Monarchs led 50-48 at the break, but the Pirates (1-0) used an 11-0 run midway through the second half to regain the upper hand in the victory. Calvin Young hit five 3-pointers en route to 19 points for VC while Trevor LaCount pulled in 10 rebounds.
LA Valley raced out to a 7-2 lead in the early going before a lay-up by Vida Faniel and a triple from Thomas Frank tied the score with 15:26 left in the half. Another Frank trey made it 17-11, and a breakaway dunk by Hankerson and a free throw from Isiah Reyes gave the Pirates their biggest lead of the half, 27-18, with 9:40 on the clock. The Monarchs battled back, however, finally taking a lead with 49 seconds remaining, and they led 50-48 at intermission.
The teams exchanged advantages early on in the second half and LAVC led 57-55 with 16:27 remaining in the contest. Reyes drove for a lay-up to tie the score at the 15:45 mark and Deryck Harvey cashed in a Reyes assist to put VC ahead 59-57. Another Reyes lay-up, a 3-point bucket by Young and a pair of Harvey charity shots completed the 11-0 Ventura run and the Pirates held a 66-57 lead with 12:17 on the clock.
LA Valley was not done, however, coming back once again to take a 69-68 lead at the 7:28 mark, but a free throw from LaCount and a trey by Hankerson gave VC the lead for good. LA Valley got as close as two points down the stretch, 8179, but a LaCount inside bucket followed by a free throw and jumper from Eddie Cowan reasserted Pirate control. Ventura was 5-6 at the free throw line in the final minute to wrap up the 93-84 victory.
Reyes ended the night with 15 points while Cowan handed out three assists with two steals. The Pirates hit 51 percent of their field goal attempts in the game and made 11 threes as a team.
VC heads into the tournament semifinals on Friday Nov. 4 against Palomar College at 7:00 pm. The game will be streamed live on the VC Sports Network as broadcast partner SoCal College Sports debuts a new higher resolution YouTube channel.