Behind a strong team effort in which eight players scored eight or more points, the Ventura College men's basketball team sailed past Santa Barbara 95-66 Wednesday at the Athletic Event Center. Carter Alexander led the way with 22 points and seven rebounds and Caleb Gilbert added 13 points and five boards. Reese Widerburg was the third Pirate in double figures with 10.
Ventura (11-10, 4-1) led wire-to-wire beginning with Alexander's lay-up off a Gilbert pass on the opening possession of the game. Gilbert followed by sandwiching a pair of lay-ups around a Vaquero three, and Beckham Rutherford made it 9-3 with a shot from range five minutes into the contest. Rutherford corralled an offensive rebound and connected for another three at the 10:32 mark to stretch the Pirate lead to double-figures, 19-9. SBCC pulled to within 26-19 with a 3-pointer, but Landreau Tate followed with his own shot from downtown to reestablish the 10-point margin. Alexander hit from three a minute later and Widerburg's triple with 1:18 on the clock made it 39-23 for Ventura. The Pirates led the Vaqueros 41-27 at halftime.
Tate and Gilbert teamed up for a solid start to the second half for the Pirates. Tate hit a lay-up, then Gilbert followed with an easy deuce. On the next possession, Tate had a steal on defense that led to a Gilbert lay-up for a 47-30 margin. Santa Barbara pulled back to within 10 points, 60-50, with 11:14 remaining before Caleb Geisendorfer hit a pair of free throws and Alexander hit a three to turn back the Vaqueros. Widerburg and Gilbert hit back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch the lead to 76-55 with 6:41 left to play. Tate followed with a two and a pair of free throws and the game was put on ice. The Pirates pulled away for the 95-66 victory.
Vernon Henry finished the game with nine points and four rebounds and Tate also netted nine with three assists. Rutherford and Geisendorfer each totaled eight points and Kai Johnson added seven.
VC now has a bye date before closing out the first round of Western State Conference play on Wednesday Jan. 31 at Allan Hancock.