Pirates Fall on Second Day of RCC Tourney

The VC men's basketball team fell behind early and could never make up ground Thursday, falling to San Bernardino Valley 73-67 on the second day of the Hypland Classic at Riverside City College. Kam'Ron Cigar led VC (8-2) with 19 points while Jerimiyah Smith scored 14 with seven rebounds. Snookey Wigington netted 10 points with three assists and three steals in the setback.

After an early 1-1 tie, the Wolverines opened up a 15-6 lead five minutes into the game. Cigar made a 3-pointer to end the Pirates' skid, but SBVC was seemingly able to answer every VC score. Smith hit a triple to pull Ventura to within 2417 at the 8:30 mark, but San Bernardino immediately hit a shot from range to counter. The Pirate deficit ballooned to 14 points, 35-21, when Christian Aukuso's 3-pointer began an 8-0 VC run with Tong Tong following with a dunk and Cigar a three to close the gap to six, 35-29. SBVC again had an answer, however, and led 40-30 at halftime.

Cigar's old-fashioned 3-point play midway through the second half brought Ventura back to within 52-45, and Smith followed up with a lay-up off a steal by Elijah Brown to cut the gap to five. Wigington scored a lay-up with 8:53 on the clock to complete a 7-0 Pirate run and VC trailed by three, 52-49. San Bernardino answered with a 5-0 run and the PIrates would never get closer than five points until the final minute when Wigington's lay-up made it 66-62. The Wolverines hit their free throws down the stretch to finish off the Pirates.

Ventura ends their run in the Riverside Tournament on Saturday Dec. 6 against the host Tigers. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 pm.