Ventura Takes It to Limit : College basketball: Pirates rally from nine-point deficit to defeat Riverside, 87-83, and advance to state finals for the second year in a row.

They toyed with disaster but in the end, the Ventura College Pirates proved why they are the state’s top-ranked basketball team.

The Pirates had to stage a late rally to beat Riverside, 87-83, in the semifinals of the state championships Friday at the UC Irvine Bren Events Center and advanced to the title game for the second consecutive year.

The Pirates lost to Columbia, 97-88, in the championship game last year at the University of San Francisco.

“Hell of a comeback for our guys,” Ventura Coach Philip Mathews said. “Our defense again was excellent.”

Ventura (36-2), seeded No. 1, will meet Long Beach City (31-6) in the final tonight at 7:30. The Vikings reached the title game with a 97-77 pounding of Chaffey.

It will be the second title-game appearance for Long Beach in the last four years.

The Pirates defeated Long Beach, 71-68, in a nonconference game at Ventura on Dec. 22. It was the only game of the season between the teams.

Ventura couldn’t gain control of the game until the final two minutes.

With 1:51 to play, point guard Joey Ramirez hit a three-point shot to give Ventura an 82-79 edge and the Pirates hung on until the end.

Ramirez, a sophomore from Santa Paula High, scored the last point of the night on a free throw with 10 seconds remaining after center Michael Tate had iced the game moments earlier with a pair of free throws.

As he has throughout the season, sophomore forward Brandon Jessie led the Ventura charge with a game-high 26 points. For Jessie, who scored 28 points in a first-round win over Cosumnes River on Thursday, it has been quite a return to his old stomping grounds.

“If we win out here (tonight), it will be extra special,” said Jessie, who attended Huntington Beach Edison High.

Most of the first half was a seesaw battle in which the lead changed hands several times.

Ventura didn’t lead by more than two points in the half and in one stretch trailed by nine, 35-26, with 5:29 remaining until intermission when Riverside guard Raimonds Miglinieks hit a three-point basket.

Miglinieks, a 6-foot-3 sophomore from Latvia who was the most valuable player in the Orange Empire Conference this season, riddled the nets with 13 points in the first half. Teammate Darryle Flicking also had 13 points.

But tough coverage by Tracy Lundy and D’Mitri Rideout in the second half limited Flicking, who finished as California’s career scoring leader with 1,991 points, to 10 post-intermission points.

“We thought if we could hold him under 25 (points), we could win the game,” Mathews said.

The Pirates bounced back, cutting the Riverside advantage to 42-41 at the half as Jessie scored nine of the last 13 points by Ventura. Miglinieks finished with 23 points and Tate had 19 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

The victory was the seventh consecutive for Ventura over Riverside, dating to the 1986-87 season.

Ventura shot 47.8% (32 of 67) from the field and 70.8% (17 of 24) from the free-throw line. Riverside shot 48.6% (34 of 70) and 58.8% (10 of 17).