Ventura Races Past Moorpark in the Stretch

In racing circles it is called a trifecta. And with all the horses Ventura College can throw at you on a basketball floor, it’s no surprise.

For the third consecutive time this season, the Pirates beat Moorpark, this time by 94-82 in a Western State Conference North Division game Saturday night, to reinforce their No. 1 ranking in the state.

But it wasn’t as easy as the final score might indicate.

Moorpark (20-8, 2-3 in conference play) sent its own thoroughbreds out and gave Ventura (29-1, 5-0) a run for its money. It was the 28th consecutive victory for Ventura, which beat the Raiders in a tournament game in November and on Jan. 24 in a conference game.

“(Moorpark) came out much more focused this game,” Ventura Coach Philip Mathews said.

The Raiders stayed in the race throughout but faltered in the last four minutes, when Ventura was able to pull away.

The score was tied, 79-79, after Ventura forward Steve Amar made the second of two free throws with 4 minutes 16 seconds remaining. Then the Pirates went on a 10-2 run sparked by forward Brandon Jessie that iced the game.

Jessie scored seven of the 10 points in the rally, including four on offensive rebounds. He finished with 34 points and 11 rebounds.

“Jessie played a great game,” Nordquist said. “He made a big difference.”

The teams took turns trying to build leads but neither could open much of a cushion.

The lead changed several times in the first half, with neither side ahead by more than five points until Moorpark pieced together a 7-2 run to take a 42-33 advantage with 3:47 until intermission.

But Ventura responded with a 9-0 spurt to even the score, 44-44, at halftime.

The Pirates tightened their defense in the second half, particularly against Sean Martin, who finished with 23 points, 17 in the first half.

“We talked about shutting Martin down (in the second half),” Mathews said. “We put more pressure on him and the entire team.”

With Martin not being able to find his shots, forward Danny Alexander stepped up and scored 11 of his 18 points. Forward Paul Foster, who was limited to four points in the first half, scored 10 for the Raiders in the final 20 minutes, but neither player could bring Moorpark all the way back.

The Pirates got 18 points from Amar in one of his best shooting nights of the season and 16 from point guard Joey Ramirez, who was playing with damaged cartilage in his right knee.

Ramirez, who was injured in Ventura’s last game against Moorpark, will undergo arthroscopic surgery Monday and will miss 10 to 12 days, Mathews said.

“We’ll replace him by committee,” Mathews said.