Lakers Sink Mariners in Semifinal

Dave Brown scored two goals and Shawn Smith had two assists Monday, but the Ventura Mariners lost to the East Metro (Minneapolis) Lakers, 5-4, in overtime of the Junior B National hockey semifinals in Blaine, Minn.

Ventura defeated East Metro, 6-5, in a pool-play game Friday, but fell behind, 4-1, in the rematch before scoring the last three goals in regulation.

East Metro scored the winning goal 2 1/2 minutes into overtime. The Lakers will play the Suffolk (N.Y.) Silver Shields in the championship game tonight.

Ventura trailed East Metro, 2-1, after the first period, and 4-1 late in the second before Brown scored his second goal on an assist from Smith with three seconds left in the period.

The Mariners narrowed their deficit to 4-3 with 8:30 left in the third period on a goal by Mike Naismith and tied the score with 4:37 remaining on a goal by Ricardo Hernandez.

Goalie Keith Bartisch had 35 saves for Ventura, which outshot East Metro, 44-40.

“We dug ourselves in a hole early,” Ventura assistant coach Sean McGillivray said. “We had three or four chances at the end of regulation, but we couldn’t score . . . We very easily could have won.”

GOLF

* Brandon Christianson, 13, of Valencia finished second in his age group in the Los Angeles Junior Championships at Griffith Park. He shot 76-72-75--223 to finish six shots behind Anthony Kim of Industry Hills.

FOOTBALL

* Rolando Aguirre, formerly the coach at Mary Star, has been hired as head coach at Bell-Jeff.

BASKETBALL

* Crespi and Simi Valley have agreed to a two-year contract to play each other in boys’ basketball beginning Dec. 11 at Simi Valley.

AUTO RACING

* Rick Hendrix of Simi Valley finished fifth in the 30-lap United States Auto Club Western Midget Car main event at Irwindale Speedway’s inaugural program Saturday.

* Greg Pursley of Sun Valley finished second in the Late Model main event Saturday night at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield.

Pursley, who started second behind winner Kevin Vernon of Bakersfield, is seventh in the points standings with one pole start and one top-five finish.

John Cappi of Reseda finished fourth in the Modified main event.

* Cory Kruseman of Ventura finished eighth in the 30-lap Sprint Car Racing Assn. main event Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix. He is third in the point standings.