Ventura Wins the Old-Fashioned Way

As a unit, the Ventura High boys’ basketball team isn’t loaded with athleticism.

And Coach Dan Larson jokes about his team’s lack of height.

But when it comes to playing old-fashioned, fundamentally sound, hard-nosed basketball, the Cougars excel.

Ventura showed that Tuesday night with a 64-59 home victory over Anaheim Loara in a Southern Section Division I-A second-round playoff game.

The victory was the eighth in nine games for the Cougars (18-10), who will play No. 3-seeded Simi Valley in a quarterfinal game Friday at a site to be determined today.

Ventura senior Jeff Staniland scored 32 points and converted a three-point play with 3:08 left to give the Cougars a 58-57 lead, but that sparkling offensive performance would have been wasted had Ventura’s defense not clamped down in the final 10 minutes.

Loara (24-4) took a 46-38 lead with 2:20 left in the third quarter, but made only one of 12 shots and committed 11 turnovers the rest of the game.

“What Ventura does is just wear you down,” Loara Coach Ed Prange said. “They pressure you and pressure you for 32 minutes. They dictate the pace of the game. You don’t.”

Ventura led, 28-17, midway through the second quarter, but made only two of 18 shots over the next nine minutes.

Staniland, who made 14 of 14 free throws, made a reverse layup with 3:09 left in the third quarter to end the drought and cut the Cougars’ deficit to 42-38.

Loara scored the next four points before wilting under Ventura’s pressure.

“We never gave up,” Staniland said. “That was the key. We weren’t shooting well, but we had good looks. We had open threes, but they just weren’t falling.”

Ventura trailed, 48-45, at the end of the third quarter, but a three-point basket by sophomore Tyler Ebell and a basket by senior Jeff Pabst gave the Cougars a 50-48 lead with 7:32 left.

There were three ties and three lead changes in the next four minutes before Staniland’s three-point play gave Ventura the lead for good.

Ventura took a 59-57 lead when junior Michael Derse hit one of two free throws with 2:38 left, but Loara narrowed its deficit to one when Dan Melton hit one of two free throws.

Loara, the Empire League champion, got off some high-percentage shots in the last two minutes, but they didn’t fall.

Staniland hit a pair of free throws to give Ventura a 61-58 lead with 34 seconds left and he sank two more with 1.8 seconds remaining to account for the final points.

Derse scored nine points and Pabst had eight for the Cougars, who were 10-9 following a 75-64 loss to Camarillo on Jan. 20.

Seniors Herbert Gracia and Ben Wardrop each scored 15 points for Loara.