Ventura coaching legend Phil Mathews returned to the VC Athletic Event Center Friday night but his new team never led as Ventura raced to a 67-53 win in a non-conference game.
In the 1980s and 90s, Mathews built Ventura into a powerhouse before leaving for the University of San Francisco in 1995. He made his return to Ventura with San Bernardino Valley several years ago, but this was his first visit to his old stomping grounds as coach of Riverside.
But Ventura (7-9) controlled the game, taking a 12-4 lead after an early 8-0 run, never trailing in a wire-to-wire win. The Pirates led by 14 points at halftime and by double digits the entire second half.
The game began in less-than-auspicious fashion, with neither team scoring during the first 1:54. At that point, Riverside's Taj Adams suffered a facial injury battling for a rebound and left the game not to return. Game officials also changed game balls, apparently deciding that the first ball didn't have any points in it.
Vondel Faniel broke the scoreless streak with a jumper at the 17:04 mark, and Mathews angrily called a timeout. Then Jelani Mitchell scored for Riverside (5-10), and Ventura coach Joey Ramirez angrily called a timeout. Ramirez, the point guard on Mathews' state champion team of 1995, obviously learned from his mentor.
After that the game finally settled into more of a rhythm, at least for Ventura. Eric Davis started the 8-0 run with a 3-pointer and then made two free throws, and Jalon Wilson hit a three to make it 12-4.
Riverside got within three points at 12-9, but then Ventura pulled away. Faniel scored off a pass from Jamal Lewis to make it 18-9. Lewis was fouled trying a 3-point shot and made all thre free throws to make it 21-9 with 9:02 left. Then Davis hit another three to complete a 12-0 run, pushing the Pirate lead to 15 points at 24-9.
Riverside got within seven points when Jordan Bryant scored on a baseline drive to make it 27-20 with just over four minutes left in the first half. But Davis and Wilson each hit 3-pointers for Ventura, pushing the lead back to double digits at 33-20. A free throw by Faniel with 34 seconds left before halftime gave Ventura a 38-24 lead at the break.
Elijah Brown made a 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the second half to push Ventura's lead to 17 points at 41-24. Ventura got within ten points when Viali Chamberlain made two free throws to make it 42-32 with 15:26 left, but never got any closer.
Faniel made another jumper, and moments later Michell picked up his fourth foul with 13:48 left, sending him to the bench. Moments later starting center Adrian Tovar-Hughes committed a foul near the basket and had a Ventura player land on his right knee, and he left the game with 13:28 remaining, not to return. Faniel made the two ensuing free throws to make it 46-32. Lewis split two free throws with 11:44 remaining to push Ventura's lead to 15 at 47-32.
After that, the game was played virtually without interruption as the teams traded baskets the rest of the way. The Ventura lead fluctuated between 12 and 17 points, and there was just one timeout - a 30-second stoppage when Wilson was trapped on the floor with no escape - and the final 11:44 took about 15 minutes of real time to complete.
For Ventura, Davis scored 16 of his team-high 17 pts in the first half, which included 4 three-pointers, and he also had 7 rebs, 3 asts and 4 blocked shots. Faniel had 16 pts and a game-high 12 rebs, and Lewis came off the bench for 16 pts. Brown had 11 pts and a team-high 3 steals.
For Riverside, Chamberlain scored a game-high 23 pts on 8-for-10 from the floor while adding 7 rebs and 3 steals. Bryant was 6-for-8 from the floor for 12 pts, and he also had 7 rebs. But the other Tigers combined to make just 7 of 33 field goal attempts (21%) and combined for just 13 rebounds.
box score
Friday, January 2, 2015 - 7 pm
at Ventura College
Riverside Tigers 53:
0-Jelani Mitchell, SG - 2/6 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 reb, 3 ast, 4 pf, 6 pts
10-Deric Daniels, PG - 1/4 fg, 1 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 2 pts
12-Sage Woodruff, SF - 1/6 fg, 1 blk, 3 pf, 2 pts
15-Taj Adams, PF - 0 pts
21-Adrian Tovar-Hughes, C - 0/2 fg, 4 reb, 2 blk, 2 pf, 0 pts
24-Viali Chamberlain, F - 8/10 fg, 7/8 ft, 7 reb, 3 stl, 3 pf, 23 pts
4-Malik Hawkins, G - 2/5 fg, 2 pf, 5 pts
44-Tom Folsom, C - 1/3 fg, 1/1 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 3 pts
1-Jordan Bryant, F - 6/8 fg, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 1 pf, 12 pts
13-Will Taylor, G - 0/2 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 0 pts
30-Sam Parks, F - 0/4 fg, 0/1 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 0 pts
23-Khari Hobbs, G - 0/1 fg, 0 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 21/51 fg (.412), 10/12 ft (.833), 27 reb, 10 ast, 5 blk, 7 stl, 16 pf, 53 pts
3-pt fg (1): Hawkins
Turnovers (12): Mitchell 2, Woodruff 2, Parks 2, Daniels, Tovar-Hughes, Chamberlain, Folsom, Taylor, team
Ventura Pirates 67:
1-Elijah Brown, SG - 5/11 fg, 0/1 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 1 pf, 11 pts
2-Jalon Wilson, PG - 2/4 fg, 3 ast, 1 blk, 4 pf, 6 pts
22-D'dante Freeman, SF - 0 pts
32-Vondel Faniel, C - 6/11 fg, 4/6 ft, 12 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 16 pts
44-Chris Thompson, PF - 0/2 fg, 3 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
13-Jamal Lewis, G - 5/10 fg, 6/7 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 pf, 16 pts
21-Eric Davis, F - 4/10 fg, 5/6 ft, 7 reb, 3 ast, 4 blk, 1 pf, 17 pts
23-Gabriel Lemon, C - 2 pf, 0 pts
15-Nathaniel Claxton, F - 0/2 fg, 1/2 ft, 2 reb, 1 pf, 1 pt
3-Toure Atwater, G - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 0 pts
team rebounds: 7
Totals: 22/51 fg (.431), 16/22 ft (.727), 37 reb, 10 ast, 6 blk, 3 stl, 13 pf, 67 pts
3-pt fg (7): Davis 4, Wilson 2, Brown
Turnovers (13): Lewis 5, Davis 2, Claxton 2, Atwater 2, Brown, Wilson
Halftime Score: Ventura 38, Riverside 24
Updated Records: Ventura 7-9, Riverside 5-10
