It was student against teacher Wednesday in Riverside as the VC men's basketball team and head coach Joey Ramirez took on Riverside and former VC head coach Phil Matthews. Behind a 32-point performance by Timothy Turner, the Pirates, and Ramirez, got the best of the Tigers and coach Matthews 83-80. It was the 150th career win at VC for Ramirez, who played for Matthews in Ventura in the early 90's. Shulton Tobin had 14 points for VC (3-1) and Dayveon Bates totaled nine points with 14 boards in the victory.
It was a nip-and-tuck affair early with six ties and seven lead changes in the opening 10 minutes. RCC, who won all three of their games last week at the We Play Hard Tournament in Ventura, took a 22-17 lead at the 9:36 mark of the opening half, but two scores by Thomas Dangerfield and a free throw by turner tied the game for the seventh time at 22-22 with 7:09 on the clock. The Tigers managed to maintain a slim advantage for most of the remainder of the half before Dangerfield netted another lay-up in the final minute to make it 40-39 for VC. However, a Pirate foul on a last-second 3-point attempt and the resulting three free made throws gave Riverside the 42-40 halftime edge.
A pair of Dayshone Henry lay-ups and a 3-point play by Turner put Ventura ahead early in the final half, 48-45. Turner followed that up with a dunk and the Pirate lead ballooned to five, 50-45, with 16:50 left to play. The Pirates were able to maintain their slim lead, stretching it to 59-52 on a Darius Butler deuce with 13:51 on the clock. RCC came back and took a 65-64 advantage at the 8:40 mark, and the game went back-and-forth until Davion Washington took Turner's assist to the rack for a 71-70 Pirate margin. Turner then made a lay-up and a jumper around a Tiger charity toss and the VC lead stretched to four, 75-71, at the 4:48 mark. VC held on to the slim edge down the stretch, holding on for the 83-80 victory.
Turner's 32-point effort was on 22 shots from the floor, and he totaled nine dimes and five boards. Henry scored 11 points on the night and Dangerfield netted nine with five rebounds.VC shot 55 percent from the floor as a team (32-58), while Riverside struggled to shoot 39 percent (29-74).
Ventura returns to action on Thursday Nov. 14 against Cerritos at the Irvine Valley Classic.