In Ventura's Western State Conference opener, 12 Pirates played and 12 Pirates scored as the Pirates ran away from visiting Santa Barbara 105-51 at the Athletic Event Center Wednesday night. Timothy Turner led five players in double figures with 19 points and Shulton Tobin totaled 17 points in the blowout win. Dayveon Bates netted 12 while Dayshone Henry and Davion Washington each scored 10 points for VC (10-7, 1-0). Jermaine Jordan recorded seven rebounds and Donavan Williams dropped six dimes in the victory.
Ventura jumped out to an 8-0 lead barely a minute into the game. Washington scored a lay-up and a Turner steal led to a Henry lay-up seconds later. Henry then provided his own steal on his next score and a Donavan theft led to a pair of free throws by Turner. Santa Barbara showed some signs of life over the next four minutes, even taking a 14-13 lead at the 14:56 mark. Two possessions later, Turner went coast-to-coast for the easy bucket, giving the Pirates the lead for good with 14:13 on the clock. VC dominated from that point, scoring 42 of the next 50 points for a 57-22 halftime lead. The Pirates shot 62.5 percent in the opening 20 minutes, taking advantage of 17 SBCC turnovers in the period.
After Santa Barbara opened the second half with a score, Ventura went on a 12-0 run to put the game away if it had not been done already. Washington cashed in a Henry dime for three and Turner followed with a 3-point play. A Steal by Turner and an assist by Thomas Dangerfield led to a dunk by Washington and Turner followed with a pair of scores to close the run. VC was able to generously distribute the minutes in the second half, and 36 of their 48 points in the period came off the bench. Jordan finished with nine points while Darius Butler scored seven. Tone Patton, Jonathan Montesinos and Kingston Williams all finished with six points. The Pirates had 21 steals distributed among nine players.
The Pirates continue conference play on Saturday Jan. 11 with a 5:00 pm game at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria.