It was a 200 mile trip for the No. 9-seed Pirates' men's basketball team to play at No. 8 Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree Friday night. VC made the most of it with an 87-75 victory over the Fighting Cacti in the CCCAA SoCal Regional Semifinals. Isiah Reyes had a career-high 35 points while Jacob Alonzo contributed 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Malcolm Ruff recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Ventura (22-8) will play in the CCCAA SoCal Regional Finals on Saturday March 3 against the winner of No. 1 San Diego City and No. 16 Long Beach City. That game is being played on Saturday Feb. 24 in San Diego.
In a close game early, Reyes was unstoppable. The Pirates opened with an Alonzo three, then Reyes scored 12 of the next 16 VC points. Twin brothers Darrell Handy-Johnson and Terrell Handy-Johnson also had buckets during the stretch and the Pirates trailed 25-23 with 6:26 remaining in the first half. Alonzo hit another triple, Reyes connected on two free throws, and Terrell H-J scored inside and Ventura held a 30-25 margin at the 3:59 mark, completing a 14-2 run over four minutes of game time. Ventura outscored Copper Mountain 11-8 down the stretch and held a 41-33 advantage at halftime.
Ventura upped its lead to 11 points, 50-39, six minutes into the second half before the Fighting Cacti attempted a come back. CMC closed to within 58-55 with 9:04 left to play before Alonzo hit a bucket and Ruff scored twice to turn the tide. Copper Mountain sandwiched a pair of threes around a Reyes field goal and the margin was reduced to one, 66-65, with 6:10 on the clock. Alonzo hit a big three, then sank three free throws after a foul on another attempt from behind the arc, and the Pirates survived the run. Reyes, John Williams and Jacob Berry all scored to help the Pirates pull away, and Dondre Watson also hit some free shots down the stretch to help preserve the 87-75 victory.
Terrell H-J finished with nine points while Williams netted six with six boards.
The Pirates will make the journey home to await their next opponent. If No. 16 Long Beach can pull the upset on Saturday, VC would host the Regional Final on Saturday March 3 at 7:00 pm. If No. 1 San Diego prevails, the Pirates will take another long trip to face the Knights on their home court. The winner of the Regional Final will qualify for the CCCAA State tournament March 9-11 at the VC Athletic Event Center.