Garza, Johnson Lead Pirates Past Cougars

Pirates Anthony Garza and Kai Johnson both flirted with triple doubles Saturday leading the Pirates' men's basketball team to an 85-73 victory over Cuesta at the Athletic Event Center. Garza scored 26 points with 11 rebounds and six assists while Johnson netted 20 points with 10 boards and seven dimes. Daniel Crocker came off the bench with 14 points for Ventura (14-4, 2-0), as they won their sixth consecutive game.

Cuesta got off to a fast start, building a five point lead four minutes into the game. However, a 12-0 Pirate run turned things in favor of VC. Garza scored on a putback with 15:19 remaining in the first half to begin the run, and Johnson netted a deuce on the next possession. Ventura took the lead for good when Johnson pulled down an offensive rebounds and fed Garza for two, then Garza turned a steal into another bucket on the next trip, with an assist by Marcus Watson. Johnson and Crocker then scored back-to-back jumpers and VC led 16-9 at the 11:25 mark of the opening period. 

Leading 26-21 at the 5:33 mark, VC then went on an 11-2 run to take control of the game. Garza and Crocker made field goals on consecutive possessions, and Garza answered a Cuesta dunk with a quick two form Tony Njia's dime. Crocker hit a three and Graza nailed a two for a 37-23 VC margin with 3:10 remaining in the half. Njia squeezed a three and a two around a bucket by Johnson and Ventura led 46-27 at halftime.

Give Cuesta credit as the Cougars did not go quietly over the final 20 minutes of the game. They cut the Ventura lead to 52-41 with 15:23 on the clock before Johnson held off the run with a made jumper soon thereafter. A 7-0 Cuesta run reduced the margin to six, 56-50, at the 12:39 mark before a Garza bucket and a dunk from Michael Noulowe made the advantage double-digits again. Two Garza jumpers made it 66-53 with 8:29 remaining, and the Pirates maintained their double-figure lead until the 1:26 mark of the second half. The Cougars closed to within 81-73 at that point, but two free throws by Njia and a Watson lay-up set the final 85-73 count.

Njia ended the night with nine points while Noulowe and Watson each put up eight. Crocker added eight boards to his stat line and Njia dropped three dimes.  As a team, VC shot 61 percent from the floor (38-62) and outrebounded the Cougars 37-21.

VC next hosts Moorpark on Wednesday Jan. 11. Tip-off against the Raiders is scheduled for 7:00 pm after the Pirate women's game at 5:00 pm at the Athletic Event Center.