Ventura Wins Regional by Dominating Saddleback

The Orange Empire didn’t strike back.

Ventura College continued its practice of eliminating Orange Empire Conference teams in big games, knocking off another Saturday night in the final round of the Southern California regional of the men’s state basketball tournament.

This time it was visiting Saddleback, which fell, 86-72, to top-seeded Ventura after trailing by as many as 28 points in the second half.

The victory, Ventura’s 17th in a row, moves the Pirates (32-4) into the round of eight, which begins Thursday at San Jose State. It will mark Ventura’s first trip to the final eight since the Pirates won the state tournament in 1987.

Last season, Ventura defeated two OEC teams in the regional tournament before losing to Cypress in a regional final. The Pirates defeated two-time defending state champion and this year’s OEC champion, Rancho Santiago, earlier this season in a holiday tournament final, and ousted Riverside, another OEC team, Wednesday in the second round of the regional.

“They keep putting us up against (OEC teams) in the playoffs,” Ventura Coach Philip Mathews said. “That just shows you how strong our conference is too.”

Ventura, 15-0 at home this season, put it together for all but the final eight minutes against ninth-seeded Saddleback (18-13). The Pirates shot 52% from the field, forced 22 turnovers, and outrebounded the Gauchos, 39-32.

Ventura’s bench outscored Saddleback’s substitutes, 30-13. Reserve forward Jabari Anderson had 10 points and freshman D’Mitri Rideout added nine for Ventura.

“That was the decisive factor,” Mathews said. “Our bench really played well.”

Ventura, getting 12 points and eight rebounds from Michael Tate, rolled to a 47-34 halftime lead and blew the game open early in the second half, forcing Saddleback to miss nine of its first 10 shots.

The Pirates led, 68-40, but Saddleback made a late run and closed to within 14 points on several occasions.

“We dug too deep a hole to come back from,” Saddleback Coach Bill Brummel said. “Ventura has a lot of weapons, and they hurt us with all of them it seemed.”

Tate led Ventura with 18 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Derrick Pugh and Reggie Phillips each added 12 points.

Jody Smith had a game-high 19 points for Saddleback and Dee Boyer added 16 points and eight rebounds.