Oxnard Proves a Tough Nut to Crack for Ventura, 83-66 : College basketball: Pirates need a surge in final four minutes to win third consecutive North Division title.

Some call it crunch time.

Others call nitty-gritty time.

Ventura College forward Calvin Curry calls it nut-cracking time.

And Curry was at his best during those crucial moments Wednesday night to lead the visiting Pirates to a 83-66 victory over Oxnard in a Western State Conference North Division men’s basketball game at Santa Clara High.

Curry, the leading scorer in the WSC, scored six of his team-high 19 points late in the second half to seal the victory for Ventura (31-1, 7-0 in division play).

The victory was the 10th in a row for the Pirates, the No. 1-ranked team in the state, but it did not come as easily as the score indicated.

Ventura led, 50-32, at halftime, but the Pirates failed to put an overmatched Oxnard team away until less than two minutes remained.

Oxnard (16-13, 2-5) was without the services of point guard Chris Cole (separated right shoulder), not to mention forward Steve Amar, who was kicked off the team a week and a half ago, and center Art Wallace, who quit the team at the same time.

Yet the Condors, behind guard Lance Fay (21 points) and forward Ed Madec (13) narrowed their deficit to 68-59 with 4 minutes 6 seconds left in the game when Madec made one of two free throws.

That was as close as Oxnard got, however, as Curry hit a short jump shot in the lane, buried a three-point shot from the right side, and followed that with a follow of a Stephane Brown miss to give Ventura a 75-63 lead with 1:57 left.

Curry had 12 rebounds for the second game in a row.

“We got too relaxed with the lead we had at halftime,” Curry said of Ventura’s inability to put Oxnard away. “Everyone came out in the second half looking to shoot jump shots and we’re not a jump-shooting team. . . . Being one of the co-captains, I tried to get something going. That’s what I’m supposed to do when it’s nut-cracking time.”

Ventura employed a full-court press throughout the first half and it paid big dividends in several easy baskets off steals, but Coach Philip Mathews called it off for most of the second half, even when Oxnard began to whittle the deficit down to single digits.

“We played a pretty damn good first half,” Mathews said. “We played good defense, we shot the ball pretty well and we rebounded well, but everyone was totally unfocused in the second half. We laid an egg in the second half. None of the starters played well at all.”

No starter may have struggled more than forward Brandon Jessie, who missed six of seven free throws in the second half.

Jessie and Brown each scored 14 points for Ventura while Michael King added 10 points and seven rebounds.

Oxnard managed to stay reasonably close for the first 11 minutes of the game, trailing, 28-21, with 8:52 left. But Ventura scored on nine of its next 10 possessions to take a 47-28 lead with 3:48 remaining.

Curry ignited the Pirate run with a three-point shot and Tracy Lundy capped it with a pair of free throws.