Pirates Top Century Mark in Sequoias Tourney Opener

The Pirates' men's basketball team used a 19-4 run midway through the first half to take control in their 108-89 victory over El Camino Friday in the opening round of the Kirby Mannon Pepsi / Wyndham Hotel Tournament at College of the Sequoias in Visalia. Cordel Hankerson had 33 points on 12-19 shooting and Trevor LaCount netted 23 points on 9-11 shooting from the floor.  Ventura (8-6) made an incredible 64 percent (41-64) of their field goal attempts in the victory over the Warriors. 

Ventura was hot from the outside early, hitting two of their first three 3-point attempts to take a 6-3 lead.  El Camino scored two straight buckets to go ahead 7-6 before VC took control with their strong run.

Taylor Sturgeon made a triple off of an assist by Calvin Young to put the Pirates ahead for good, 9-7, with 17:10 left to play in the first half. That was followed by a jumper by Isiah Reyes and a triple from Hankerson.  Following a Warrior field goal, Hankerson hit another three, and Young answered another El Camino bucket with another make from range for the Pirates, making it 20-11 at the 14:11 mark. Sturgeon and Hankerson added two more treys and the 19-4 run was complete, leaving VC ahead 25-11 with 12:09 on the clock.

The Pirates maintained the double-digit margin throughout the remainder of the first half , with one exception at the 4:07 mark when El Camino cut the lead to 46-37.  Eddie Cowan quickly answered with a made shot, however, and Ventura went to intermission with a 54-43 advantage.

El Camino made a run early in the second half, closing to within 56-52 with 18:08 left to play, but Reyes and Stephen Ntui made back-to-back buckets to turn back the Warriors' charge. Vida Faniel made a pair of free throws followed by a 3-pointer, Sturgeon made a charity toss, and Isaac Ramirez hit a triple to build the lead back to 15, 69-54, with 15:31 on the clock.

El Camino never got closer than nine points the rest of the way, and VC went on to post the 108-89 win.

Sturgeon came off the bench to score 15 points and grab a team-high eight rebounds. LaCount added seven boards to his point total and Hankerson had three steals and a pair of assists.  Cowan handed out six dimes to lead the Pirates while Sturgeon, Young and Ntui all handed out three helpers.

Ventura advances to the tournament semifinals against San Bernardino Valley.  Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 pm on Saturday Dec. 17 in Visalia.