COLLEGE BASKETBALL PASADENA TOURNAMENT : Ventura Wins Behind a Big 2nd Half, 75-49

The Ventura College men’s basketball team found itself in a rare situation in the first round of the Crown City Holiday Classic at Pasadena City College on Thursday.

The Pirates, whose starters stand, on average, less than 6-feet-2, played a Rio Hondo team that was even shorter. But Ventura did not take advantage of its size until the second half of a 75-49 victory.

The Pirates held a 28-26 lead at halftime before going on a 14-0 run after intermission to blow the game open.

Defense keyed the run as the Pirates forced Rio Hondo to turn the ball over four times on its first 10 possessions of the second half.

And on the six possessions that the Roadrunners managed to hold on to the ball, they were zero for seven from the field.

“We just came out and applied a little more pressure on defense in the second half,” Ventura forward Derrick Pugh said. “And we rebounded better. We didn’t go to the glass in the first half like we should have.”

Ventura (12-3) will play L.A. Trade Tech, an 81-78 winner over Cuesta, in a semifinal game tonight at 6 o’clock.

Led by reserve forward Bernard Walker, Rio Hondo (6-4) kept close to Ventura in the first half by playing the Pirates nearly even on the boards. Walker, working primarily inside the key, scored 10 points on five-of-seven shooting in the first half.

But in the second half, Ventura forced him to the outside and he made just one of nine shots.

“We might have taken them too lightly in the first half,” said Pugh, who scored 16 points. “Because they were smaller than us, we didn’t come in with an attitude like we usually do, and that hurt us a little.”

Reggie Phillips scored a game-high 18 points for Ventura and teammate Michael Tate added 12 points--10 in the second half--and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Aaron Cornell and Dominick Carnisa scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Rio Hondo.

In another first-round game:

Rancho Santiago 86, Moorpark 72--Damian Wilson and Jimmy Galbert, Moorpark’s two leading scorers, were held out of the game by Coach Al Nordquist because they arrived late. But the remaining Raiders played well despite losing to the two-time defending state champion Dons.

The Raiders were on the verge of being blown out at halftime, trailing, 51-34. But they refused to fold and narrowed the deficit to nine points on three occasions in the second half.

Sean Doyle scored 18 points and Matt Weaver had 17 for Moorpark.

“I was pleased with the way we played,” Nordquist said. “We’re getting there. People who started the season the season without a lot of game experience are getting some now and it’s starting to show in the way we play.”

Glenn Greene, the lone returning starter from last year’s state champion, scored a game-high 19 points--15 in the first half--and 6-10 center Rick Swanwick added 16 for the Dons.

Carlos Vasquez and Steve Carnes scored 15 and 14 points for Moorpark, which was forced to play its starting five players for almost the entire game because of the unavailability of Wilson and Galbert.

Moorpark will play in a consolation semifinal at 4 today against Latin American Bible Institute, which lost to Pasadena City.