Men's Basketball Advances at Irvine Tournament

The VC men's basketball team defeated Long Beach City College 65-54 Thursday night to advance into the semifinals of the Irvine Valley Classic in Irvine. Darrell Handy-Johnson and Isiah Reyes each scored 12 points to lead the Pirates (5-2) and Jacob Alonzo scored eight points with 10 rebounds and three assists. John Williams netted nine points while Malcolm Ruff scored eight with five blocked shots. The Pirates will play the host Irvine Valley Lasers Friday in the tournament semifinals at 7:00 pm.

The Vikings held the high ground early on, but never could get more than a possession away from  the Pirates. Terrell Handy-Johnson cleaned up an offensive rebound and added the putback to tie the game at 10-10 with 11:37 remaining in the first half. Williams did the same two minutes later and the Pirates held their first lead of the night, 12-10. There were five ties and four lead changes through the rest of the first period before Lamont Landers, Darrell H-J and Reyes all scored on consecutive trips in the final 93 seconds of the half, giving Ventura at 30-26 lead before LBCC scored to make it 30-28 at halftime.

Ventura opened up some breathing room early in the second half on a 3-pointer and two free throws from Williams sandwiched around a deuce by Reyes. VC held a 39-32 advantage with 15:49 on the clock before the Vikings answered with an 8-0 run in 90 seconds of game time to retake the lead, 40-39. A Williams bucket ended the Pirate drought, and began a 7-0 Pirate run, closed by a field goal and three of four free throws from Darrell H-J.  Long Beach provided their own answer, a 6-0 run, and the game was tied 46-46 with 7:43 left in the game.

Isaac Ramirez turned an Alonzo assist into two points, then he helped a bucket by Darrell H-J, and Reyes had a steal and a lay-up for a 42-48 Pirate lead with 5:00 on the clock. Two Alonzo free throws, and an offensive putback by Ruff kept the Vikings at bey, and two Reyes charity tosses extended the Pirate margin to 58-53 with 3:02 remaining. Alonzo went 6-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch as the Pirates advanced with the 65-54 victory.