The Pirates' men's basketball team used a 27-7 run midway through the first half to pull away from visiting Pasadena City College in VC's 79-59 season-opening win on day one of the We Play Hard Tournament at the Athletic Event Center. Timothy Turner led a balanced attack with 18 points and six assists while Thomas Dangerfield and Darius Butler contributed 15 and 12 points, respectively. In total, 12 Pirates played at least 11 minutes in the game and 12 different players reached the scoring column in the win.
After a slow first three minutes, the Pirates (1-0) took charge with their game-deciding run. Dangerfield and Shulton Tobin each hit a pair of free throws to put Ventura ahead 8-5 and Dayshone Henry's old-fashioned 3-point play extended the advantage to 11-5 with 15:01 remaining in the first half. Turner followed with another 3-point play to complete a 10-0 Ventura run. After a PCC bucket, both teams went cold with Dangerfield stroking back-to-back three's to make it 20-8 for VC at the 9:43 mark.
Turner and Butler also connected from range to move the lead to 16 points, 26-10, and another Turner triple and a bucket from Jonathan Montesinos completed the 27-7 run with the Pirates ahead 31-12 with 7:37 on the clock. Although the Lancers did manage to pull back to within 14 points on a pair of occasions, they never really threatened as the Pirates led 43-26 at halftime.
Two charity shots by Dayveon Bates and a trey by Turner extended the lead to 22 points, 48-26, early in the second half and the Pirates were able to ride the wave through to the end. Dangerfield emphatically delivered the dagger, a dunk from Tobin's assist, to give Ventura its biggest lead of the game 69-38 with 10:44 remaining. Ventura kept up the pace from there to deliver the 79-59 win.
The Pirates dominated the glass, recording a 45-33 margin over Pasadena with Henry pulling in six boards. Dangerfield and Kingston Williams each had five rebounds. VC was 25-54 from the floor, a 46 percent shooting clip, and the Pirates made 13 3-pointers in the game.
Ventura continues play in the We Play Hard Tournament Friday Nov. 1 against Palomar College. Tip-off is slated for 5:00 pm at the Athletic Event Center.