Five members of the Pirates' men's basketball team have earned All-Western State Conference honors as voted upon by the conference coaches at a meeting following the regular season. Anthony Garza was named the Player of the Year for the WSC champions while Adrian McIntyre and Marcus Watson each earned first team All-WSC accolades. Kai Johnson and Daniel Crocker were named Honorable Mention All-WSC while VC head coach Joey Ramirez was named the conference Coach of the Year.
Garza becomes the 22nd WSC North Division Player of the Year for the Pirates since the 1980's. The sophomore from Surprise, Ariz. led Ventura to its seventh straight conference crown averaging 17.5 points and 7.2 rebounds in WSC play, both team highs. He made an astonishing 72 percent of his field goal attempts in the 12 conference games and made 66 percent of his free throws. Garza was a first team All-WSC honoree as a freshman.
McIntyre, meanwhile, was named first team all-conference despite missing five of the 12 conference games due to injury. In his seven games played, the Saugus High School product scored 16.0 points per outing with averages of 2.6 assists and 1.3 steals. The Pirate sophomore and 2022 WSCN Player of the Year shot 60 percent from the floor, 44 percent from behind the 3-point line and 82 percent from the free throw line.
Watson, a freshman from Chicago, Ill., was a dynamic point guard for VC, scoring 14 points per game with 4.2 assists and 1.8 steals.
Oxnard high School products Johnson and Crocker earned Honorable Mention All-WSC awards. Johnson averaged 13.3 points, 6.1 boards and 3.7 dimes per game while Crocker posted 12.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per outing.
Ramirez, who earned his 200th career win as VC's head coach on December 3, shared the Coach of the Year accolades this season, earning his eighth post-season conference honor in his 11th season at the helm. He guided the Pirates to the program's seventh straight WSCN crown, his eighth overall.