Behind Ward, Santa Clara Wins, 68-61

B.J. Ward scored 22 points and Santa Clara High boys’ basketball Coach Lou Cvijanovich won his 809th game, 68-61, over Ventura on Saturday in the championship game of the Ventura tournament.

Santa Clara (10-1), ranked No. 2 in the region by The Times, increased the lead to 30-23 with six consecutive free throws to begin the second half.

Sparked by 26 points from Jeff Staniland, Ventura (8-5) pulled to within 48-44, but the Cougars missed several layups down the stretch.

Nick Jones scored 19 points and Terrence Dotsy added 11 for Santa Clara. Jeff Pabst contributed 15 points for Ventura.

In other Ventura tournament games:

Agoura 68, Buena 62--Center Danny Thompson scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half and the Chargers held off the Bulldogs in the third-place game.

Sparked by the play of Thompson, Agoura (5-5) used a 14-2 run to build a 39-25 lead at halftime.

Garrett Lepisto added 14 points for the Chargers and Andrew Morrow scored 11.

Buena (7-6), which was led by Robby Blanks’ 11 points, rallied to within 48-46.

Channel Islands 50, Birmingham 45--Leading, 38-17, at the half, the Raiders scored only 12 points in the second half but managed to hold on to fifth place.

Mshak Ghazarian sparked the Patriots comeback by scoring 12 of his 15 in the second half. Nicolas Halic had 12 points for Birmingham (2-10). Russell Patton had 11 for Channel Islands (6-5).

Valencia 2, Cathedral 0--The Vikings won seventh place when Cathedral failed to show up.