Ledesma Lifts Oxnard Over Camarillo

Sal Ledesma of Oxnard High hit an 8-foot jump shot with 26 seconds left to give the Yellowjackets a 47-46 upset of Camarillo in the opening round of the 25th Ventura boys’ basketball tournament at Ventura High on Wednesday.

Camarillo (6-3) missed a chance for the victory when Ed Lane missed a shot underneath the basket with 3 seconds left.

Camarillo held a 46-45 lead and the ball with 49 seconds left, but a traveling call against Scott Foster gave Oxnard (4-3) the ball and set up Ledesma’s winning shot.

The Scorpions held their biggest lead, 10-4, in the first quarter but Oxnard fought back to score 8 points in the last 2 minutes of the quarter to tie the score, 12-12.

David Harbour made 2 free throws early in the third quarter to give Camarillo a 25-24 lead, but Oxnard’s Bryant Taylor took control of the boards, grabbing 5 of his game-high 10 rebounds in the quarter, which ended in a 31-31 tie.

The lead changed hands throughout the final period but Ledesma, who scored 9 of his game-high 16 points in the quarter, took the sting out of the Scorpions and sent Oxnard into a winners’-bracket quarterfinal game against Buena at 6:30 tonight.

Frank Dews paced Camarillo with 12 points and Foster added 11 for the Scorpions, who will face Channel Islands in a losers’-bracket quarterfinal game at 5 tonight.

In other first-round games, Newbury Park defeated the Ventura JV, 89-59; Buena routed Channel Islands, 100-73; and defending tournament champion Ventura beat Nordhoff, 75-56.

Newbury Park will meet Ventura in another winners’-bracket quarterfinal at 8 p.m., and the Ventura JV will play Nordhoff in the 3:30 p.m. losers’-bracket game.