Brown Puts Ventura in State Final

Brown went to town Friday night. And no one was happier to see him go than Ventura College men’s basketball Coach Philip Mathews.

Stephane Brown, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard, scored a team-high 26 points to lead Ventura to a 104-99 victory over Riverside City in the semifinals of the junior college state championships before 1,200 at the University of San Francisco.

His stellar offensive performance came a day after what Mathews called a subpar game for Brown in a 10-point victory over San Jose City in the quarterfinals. In that game, Brown scored five points and took only three shots from the field.

“I had the worst game I’ve played at Ventura,” Brown said of the San Jose game. “(Mathews) told me to get in the lane and elevate and shoot.”

Brown followed the advice and came up with a big payoff. He repeatedly went to the basket or posted low, from where he hit several turnaround jumpers.

The Pirates (37-1), who will play Columbia for the title at 7:30 tonight, needed all the help Brown could offer. Their two main offensive weapons, forwards Calvin Curry and Brandon Jessie, each had 24 points, but they wouldn’t have been able to carry the load alone against a sound Riverside team.

The Tigers (28-10) led by as many as 10 points (35-25 and 37-27) in the first half behind the long-range shooting of sophomore forward Loudon Williams and freshman guard Darryle Flicking.

Williams, who entered the championships with a 26.5-point average and had 40 points in an 88-85 victory over Diablo Valley on Thursday, scored 37. He had 24 in the first half and finished with five successful three-point attempts. Flicking scored 27.

With those two doing most of the damage, Riverside played confidently in the first half.

The Tigers led, 42-35, with 5 minutes 10 seconds left before intermission when Curry hit consecutive three-pointers and Jessie followed with two more. Tracy Lundy then scored on a layup after a Riverside turnover to put the Pirates ahead, 49-42, with 3:16 remaining in the half.

Ventura had to hang on near the end of the game after a three-pointer by Flicking with 25 seconds left closed the gap to 99-96. But Pirate point guard Joey Ramirez converted four consecutive free-throw attempts, the last two with 13 seconds to play, to open a seven-point edge (103-96).

It was the 16th consecutive victory for Ventura and the sixth in a row for the Pirates over Riverside. Mathews has never lost to the Tigers.

Mathews said he wasn’t too concerned when Riverside took command in the first half.

“I wasn’t worried that much because they were shooting the (heck) out of the ball,” Mathews said. “I always thought that if we maintained our composure we’d win.”

Jessie led all rebounders with 11 and Curry had 10. The Pirates out-rebounded Riverside, 50 to 30.

Tournament Notes

About 500 Ventura College boosters made the trip north. They rooted loudly and raised their trademark orange three-point cards whenever the Pirates hit from beyond the arc. . . . Valley’s Jim Stephens, who retired at the end of the season, Canyons’ Lee Smelser, Glendale’s Brian Beauchemin, Moorpark’s Al Nordquist and Antelope Valley’s Newton Chelette are on hand for the four-day California Community College Basketball Coaches Assn. convention that concludes today. . . . Ventura is one of three teams that made the final eight last year and qualified for the tournament this year. The others are Columbia and San Jose.