COLLEGE BASKETBALL PASADENA TOURNAMENT : Wake-Up Call Spurs Ventura to Win Over Trade Tech

After getting a wake-up call late in the game, Ventura College shook off L.A. Trade Tech, 98-71, in a semifinal game of the Pasadena tournament Friday night.

With the Pirates leading, 80-65, Ventura forward Derrick Pugh was hammered by John McKnight on a foul underneath the basket that left Pugh sprawled on the court.

A few minutes earlier, Ventura’s Richard McFoy had submarined Trade Tech’s Ryan Mack in what appeared to be an unintentional foul, but McKnight’s actions left no doubt that his foul was retaliatory.

Pugh did not let it bother him, however, and calmly sank two free throws to start a 12-2 run over the next 1 minute 49 seconds that extended the Pirates’ lead to 92-67.

Pugh, who had a game-high 10 rebounds, scored all six of his points during the run.

“Things were getting out of control,” Ventura Coach Philip Mathews said. “I didn’t like the tone that the game was taking. Tackling guys and clothes-lining guys is not basketball to me. . . . But we responded well. We’ve got a young team, but they remained calm and stayed focused.”

The same could not be said of Trade Tech (9-4).

Shortly after McKnight fouled Pugh, Trade Tech’s Chad Thompson was ejected for comments he made to one of the referees.

Ventura (13-3) appeared ready to blow out Trade Tech on several occasions, but the Pirates were unable to do so until the end because of some sloppy play and mental mistakes that left the animated Mathews exasperated at times.

“We’re still making little mistakes,” Mathews said. “They’re things that we shouldn’t be making at this time of the season, but we’re still doing it. I think it’s just a lack of concentration at times.”

Reggie Phillips led Ventura in scoring for the second game in a row with 18 points, and Michael Tate (eight rebounds) added 17.

Eric Fuller scored a game-high 20 points for Trade Tech and James Wade added 18.

Ventura jumped to an early 24-11 lead in the first half, but Fuller (six points) keyed an 8-0 run to cut the lead to five points less than two minutes later. Ventura committed two turnovers and missed two of three shots during the run to help Trade Tech.

Ventura outscored Trade Tech, 14-7, in the last 6 1/2 minutes of the half to take a 49-37 lead at intermission.

In a consolation semifinal:

Moorpark 101, Latin American Bible Institute 71--Damian Wilson and Jimmy Galbert, who had been held out of the Raiders’ first-round loss to Rancho Santiago on Thursday because they arrived late for warm-ups, returned to Moorpark’s lineup and scored 29 and 16 points, respectively.

Teammate Carlos Vasquez added 18 points for Moorpark.

Latin American’s John Guerrero tied Wilson for game-high honors with 29 points, most of them from long range.

Moorpark will play Rio Hondo, an 86-57 winner over Cuesta, in the consolation championship at 5 p.m. today.