Ventura Clinches Share of WSC Division Championship

Phil Mathews is obviously a hard man to please.

Saturday night, his Ventura College basketball team notched a milestone victory by knocking off host Santa Barbara City College, 90-72. But Mathews was not in a mood to celebrate.

“We played horrible,” he said. “We had 11 guys with 11 different agendas. That’s not the way we’re supposed to play.”

But if the play looked ragged, the result was familiar. The win gave Ventura, the state’s top-ranked team, its third consecutive 30-win season and allowed the Pirates to clinch a share of their third consecutive Western State Conference North Division title.

Ventura let big leads slip away in each half. The Pirates led, 26-14, with 7 minutes 50 seconds left in the opening half before Santa Barbara (14-16, 3-4 in division play) countered with a 10-0 run over the next 2 1/2 minutes.

Ben Heidger, who finished with 21 points, scored the Vaqueros’ final five points of the run after consecutive Ventura turnovers.

The Pirates built the lead back to 13 points less than four minutes into the second half, only to watch Santa Barbara City trim the deficit to six with eight minutes to play.

But then Calvin Curry and Brandon Jessie hit consecutive three-point shots to derail the Santa Barbara rally.

Jessie (27 points, 10 rebounds), Curry (19 and 12) and Michael King (16 and 10) all played well offensively, but 18 turnovers and a inconsistent defensive effort plagued Ventura (30-1, 6-0).

The Pirates appeared to be baffled by Santa Barbara’s full-court press, turning the ball over four times during a six-possession stretch near the end of the first half.

“We didn’t handle it very well,” Mathews said. “No one had pressed us this season until tonight and it caught us off guard.”

Heidger’s second three-point basket of the half gave Santa Barbara a 32-30 lead with 3:25 remaining, but Ventura responded with a 10-3 run to take a 40-35 halftime lead. The Pirates began the second half with a 14-6 run before the Vaqueros countered with a streak of their own, which was short-circuited by three-pointers by Curry and Jessie.

Ventura outrebounded Santa Barbara, 46-29, and the Pirates’ dominance on the offensive boards paid off in seven baskets on follow shots.