The 5-peat Western State Conference North Division champion Ventura College men's basketball team swept the conference awards, as selected by the WSC North coaches. Timothy Turner was named the WSC North Most Valuable Player and Tone Patton earned the Defensive Player of the Year award. Meanwhile, VC head coach Joey Ramirez was named the WSC North Coach of the Year. Joining Turner and Patton on the first team All-WSC list are Pirates Dayshone Henry and Shulton Tobin while Dayveon Bates earned Honorable Mention All-WSC accolades.
Turner led the Pirates from his point guard position with 15.7 points, 5.1 assists and 6.8 rebounds per game in conference play. The sophomore from Harlan High School in Chicago also had 1.8 steals per game defensively. Patton, meanwhile, pulled in 6.3 rebounds per outing while scoring 11.3 points per game. The Chicago-Thornwood High School product was also the Pirates' defensive mainstay, dominating that end of the floor.
Henry led the Pirate offense, scoring 17.6 points per game in conference. The sophomore from Fremont High School in Los Angeles also averaged 7.9 boards and 1.2 blocks in VC's 12 WSC North contests. Tobin, meanwhile was Ventura's best outside shooter in conference play. A freshman from Rio Mesa High School, Tobin made a team-high 23 3-pointers while averaging 8.6 points per game. Bates, a sophomore from Innovations High School in Chicago, scored 6.1 points per game with 5.0 rebounds while providing solid veteran leadership.
Ramirez, the Pirates' ninth-year mentor, picked up his fifth straight Coach of the Year award leading VC to a perfect 12-0 conference mark, the first undefeated season in the WSC North since 2008.
Ventura earned the No. 9 seed in the CCCAA Southern California Regional Playoffs, and will open post-season play on Friday Feb. 28 at Cerritos College at 7:00 pm.
