GLENDALE COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Ventura Surges in 2nd Half to Bury Harbor

Ventura College looked nothing like the top-ranked men’s basketball team in the state for most of Friday night’s semifinal against Harbor in the Glendale College tournament, but one superb seven-minute stretch was enough to propel the Pirates to a 73-57 victory.

The win was the 33rd in the last 34 games for Ventura (15-0), which will play El Camino in the championship game at 7:30 tonight.

“That wasn’t VC basketball,” Ventura Coach Philip Mathews said. “We didn’t play with any focus, and our sophomores didn’t step forward like they should have. . . . We’ve got a long, long way to go. We’re not close to playing the type of ball we should be playing.”

Mathews was particularly irked by 20 Ventura turnovers along with Harbor’s 22 offensive rebounds and 11 baskets on second or third efforts.

“We just weren’t boxing out, or taking our time on offense,” he said. “It was a sloppy, sloppy win. I’ll take it, but I’m not pleased with it.”

Ventura led, 33-30, at halftime, but with 12 minutes 37 seconds left had extended its lead to 57-33.

Sophomore Calvin Curry (22 points) scored 11 points during the run and teammates Stephane Brown (10 points, eight assists) and Brandon Jessie (six points, 12 rebounds) each added four points.

Curry hit a trio of three-point shots during the surge and had four in the game.

“We took our time at the start of the second half and things went well,” Mathews said. “But then we stopped taking our time. We started rushing things again.”

Harbor (10-5) followed Ventura’s run with one of its own by crashing the offensive boards and pressuring the Pirates into four turnovers.

The Seahawks, led by Shelton Simmons with eight points in seven minutes, trimmed the deficit to 61-54 with 5:35 remaining, but they seemed to run out of gas shortly thereafter.

Ventura scored eight of the next 10 points for a 69-56 lead with 1:29 to play.

Guard Joey Ramirez, a former Santa Paula High standout, scored 20 points for Ventura, including 13 in the first half when he was five of six from the field, three of three from three-point range.

Michael King added 11 points and 13 rebounds for Ventura.

Curtis Cathey led Harbor with 13 points.

El Camino 90, Glendale 81--Kenny Collins scored a game-high 29 points for Glendale (5-7), but the Vaqueros fell in a semifinal game. Glendale led, 45-42, at halftime but El Camino outscored the Vaqueros, 44-21, during the first 16 minutes of the second half.

Barnabas James, a 6-foot-6 sophomore forward, led El Camino with 24 points. Teammate Jason Anthony added 19 points.

Will Burr, a sophomore guard from Alemany High, scored 14 points for Glendale. Freshman guard Ryan Asplund added 12. Collins, a freshman point guard from Cleveland High, had six assists.

Trailing, 82-66, with four minutes to play, Glendale went on a 9-2 run, but could draw no closer than 84-75.

El Camino made six of six free throws over the last 1:37.

Glendale will play Harbor at 5:30 tonight in the third-place game.