Ventura’s Manpower Too Much for Valley in Late Going, 90-74

The Ventura College basketball team has a simple enough slogan: “We Play Hard.”

Simple and to the point. And Jim Stevens, coach at Valley College, got the point Saturday.

“They play hard, they play together and they play great ball,” Stevens said of Ventura.

Ventura, adhering to its slogan, beat Valley, 90-74, in a Western State Conference game at Ventura.

It was not an easy task for Ventura (23-5, 8-2 in conference play). The Pirates had to come from behind midway through the second half to win.

With the score tied, 60-60, Ventura began an 8-0 run with 9:25 to play and steadily pulled away from the Monarchs. Forward Leo Parker scored 18 of his game-high 30 points in the second half to pace the Pirates.

In the first half it as though Valley (17-10, 7-3) might hand slumping Ventura its third loss in 4 outings.

Guards Joey Manliguis and Tory Stephens scored 17 and 14 points, respectively, in the first half as the Monarchs led most of the way. However, Pirate forward Reggie Betton warmed to the task and scored 15 of his 21 points in the half to bring Ventura even at halftime, 41-41.

Valley suited up only 8 players and had difficulty keeping up with Ventura’s fresh reserves in the second half.

“We were totally outmanned,” Stevens said. “We really ran out of gas the last 10 minutes. I have eight guys, but only four players, and the way Ventura played tonight they could have beat anyone in the state.”

Besides the strong bench, Ventura adjusted defensively and held Manliguis (21 points) and Stephens (18 points) to only 4 points each in the second half.

“Tony Walker and Betton really did the job on Stephens and Manliguis in the second half,” Ventura Coach Phil Mathews said. We didn’t play good ‘D’ in the first half, but we came on and played hard in the second half.”

Ventura shot 58% from the field, which impressed Stevens.

“They can shoot. Parker was great inside and if they didn’t make such a high percentage of their outside shots, we would have been in the game,” he said.

Former Westlake High standout Dave Heckmann added 10 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds for the Pirates.

Oral Elrington added 13 points for the Monarchs, who dropped their second consecutive conference game.