Ventura Gets Boost From Former Star

Coincidence or what?

The moment Laker forward Cedric Ceballos stepped into the Ventura College gym, the Pirates stepped on the gas and turned a reasonably close game into a rout.

Ventura, after trailing at times in the first half, perhaps got good vibes from the school’s most-famous former player and cruised to a 122-76 victory over Canyons in a Western State Conference interdivisional game Saturday night.

With the rout, Ventura (22-0) established a school record for consecutive victories at the start of a season. The school mark for most consecutive victories in a season is 29, set last year.

It was also the second-highest scoring total for the Pirates this season.

The Pirates, ranked No. 1 in the state, did most of the damage with long-range shots, many of them coming after turnovers by Canyons (7-12).

Ventura made 18 of 39 three-point attempts (46.1%) and forced 29 turnovers. Guard Lance Fay was six of nine in three-point tries and Charles Woodard connected on four of eight.

“They went to a zone (defense) and that’s the wrong thing to do against us,” said Ventura Coach Philip Mathews.

Canyons led, 21-18, when the Pirates took off on a 9-0 run for a 27-21 edge and didn’t trail again.

At one interval, Ventura’s full-court press forced four turnovers in a row, which the Pirates exploited for eight points to take a 55-32 advantage just before the half.

Every Ventura player scored. Fay finished with a game-high 20 points--17 in the first half--and Woodard had 16. Teammate Damian Cantrell also scored 16 and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Gerald Zimmerman contributed 16 points and four steals.

Forward Randy Roa came off the bench to lead Canyons with 12 points. Guard Malik Clark had 11, and Kwesi Fulton and Marrcel Crain each had 10.