Ventura Stopped 2nd Straight Year : College basketball: No. 1-ranked Pirates foiled again, this time by Long Beach City, 63-61, in state championship final.

There was no hiding the monumental disappointment on the faces of the Ventura College basketball players.

This time they were not going to even try, not like they did last year. This one was the Big Hurt.

For the second consecutive time, the Pirates were stunned in the title game of the state championships, this one in a 63-61 loss to Long Beach City before 3,800 at the UC Irvine Bren Events Center on Saturday.

Guard Sharif Metoyer sank a layup on a dribble drive with 1 minute 44 seconds remaining to give Long Beach (32-6) the victory.

Ventura did not score thereafter and Steve Amar missed two free throws with five seconds to play.

“I feel like (Buffalo Bills) Coach Marv Levy,” Ventura Coach Philip Mathews said. “We’ll keep trying. We’ll be back next year.”

How long the Pirates (36-3), who were ranked No. 1 in the state throughout the season, can continue to deal with the heartache of reaching the final, only to go home with second-place medals, remains to be seen. The loss was particularly hard for the eight sophomores on the squad, including forward Brandon Jessie.

“Two years in a row,” Jessie said. “We worked so hard to get here. To lose it, it kills us. . . . I’ll probably break down when I get home tonight.”

Jessie, who was named to the all-tournament team with teammate Michael Tate, finished with a game-high 24 points. He had an opportunity to put the Pirates ahead after Metoyer’s basket, but missed a long three-point attempt with 21 seconds left on the clock.

After struggling to catch up with the Vikings all night, Ventura finally managed to move ahead, 57-53, with 5:54 to go on a basket by Amar. But Long Beach rallied and Jessie tied the score, 61-61, with a left-handed layup at the 2:05 mark before Metoyer struck.

“I faked it (the play) to the left, then I drove into my man and he bumped into his own man, and I had clear sailing to the basket,” Metoyer said of the winning basket.

They were his only two points of the second half in a four-point outing.