COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Curry Paces Ventura With 30 Points

Calvin Curry, a 6-foot-5 freshman guard, scored a season-high 30 points to lead Ventura College to a 90-72 Western State Conference Northern Division basketball victory over host Oxnard at Santa Clara High on Wednesday night.

Curry scored 23 points in the first half to give Ventura (26-4, 6-0 in division play) a 45-35 lead.

“I wasn’t relaxing earlier in the season, but I’m more relaxed now and the shots were just there,” said Curry who hit six shots from three-point range.

Curry’s early outside shooting opened up the inside game in the second half for forward DiJon Barnard (22 points) and center Lester Neal (16 points, 15 rebounds).

“This is a well-balanced scoring team,” Ventura Coach Phil Mathews said. “The players knew that (Curry) was hot and they kept feeding him the ball and it really opened up our inside game.”

Oxnard (14-13, 3-3) took its only lead of the game, 8-7, on a basket by center Omar Otis.

Curry began connecting on his long-range shots shortly thereafter. Shawn Talley had a team-high 21 points and Don Mitchell added 19 for Oxnard.