The VC men's basketball team dropped its finale in the Gregg Anderson Memorial Tournament to host Antelope Valley Sunday afternoon, 107-98. Carter Alexander led the way for the Pirates with 24 points, including four made 3-pointers, and Kai Johnson netted 23 with seven assists. Caleb Gilbert posted a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds for VC (4-6).
The Pirates took the early lead on Gilbert's lay-up off a Johnson assists and Reese Widerburg's jumper from Caleb Geisendorfer's pass. The advantage was short-lived, however, as the Marauders went ahead 7-6 two minutes later and never gave the lead back. Alexander's three made it 12-11 for AVC with 14:11 left in the opening half, and Gilbert hit a triple at the 12:29 mark to tie the game at 18. Antelope Valley scored the next six points, however, and Rick Djouwe's 3-point play closed VC to within 24-21 with 9:24 remaining to pull Ventura as close as they would get the rest of the game.
The Marauders went on a 21-4 run over the next four minutes of game time to open a 20-point margin, 43-23. Ventura closed the gap to 14, 51-37, on Johnson's jumper at the 1:09 mark, but another AVC run had the Pirates trailing 56-37 at halftime.
Ventura went on a 10-2 run to open the second half. Geisendorfer made a pair of free throws and Widerburg nailed a three on back-to-back possessions. Johnson answered an AVC deuce with a triple, then dropped a dime to Gilbert for a lay-up, pulling VC to within 58-47 three minutes into the stanza.
Midway thorough the period, Geisendorfer hit a charity toss to pull the Pirates to within 10, 72-62, and Johnson nailed a free shot on the next trip to reduce the deficit to single-digits. Unfortunately Antelope Valley had a response, and stretched their advantage back to 15, 84-69, with 7:28 left to play. The deficit remained in that range for the rest of the contest before Alexander closed with a two and a three in the final minute to set the final margin.
Geisendorfer grabbed nine rebounds on the night while Alexander and Mykayle McCoy each pulled in five caroms. Vernon Henry dropped five dimes and Djouwe hauled in a pair of steals.
The Pirates next travel to the Riverside Tournament on Wednesday Dec. 6 taking on Saddleback at 2:00 pm.