Porterville College basketball takes loss at Ventura

The Porterville College Pirates basketball team had a hard fought game last Wednesday against the Ventura College Pirates Basketball team. The Ventura Pirates took the game from the Pirates 7974 in Ventura

The start of the game led off with a tip off for the Ventura Pirates, they ran the court but the Pirates Assad Madassalia forced a turnover. The Pirates made a wild steal but they ended up missing their shot and the Pirates Cameron Walker got the rebound.

With an assist by Julio Phipps, Walker moved past multiple opponent defenders and landed a three point shot to begin the game in the Pirates favor. Ventura weren’t distracted by the early deficit and rallied. Madassalia took the ball for the Pirates and went down the court. Massalia missed his shot but Mylo Santos was there with the offensive rebound and layup. Within another 20 seconds, a turnover from the Ventura led to an excellent jump shot by Mylo Santos who tied the game up 7-7.

The first half of the game went well in the Pirates favor, with multiple solid plays from Santos, Walker, Kiya Mcqueen, Phipps, and Madassalia. However, after a three point shot by Walker Ventura returned to the court with a vengeance.

Down 26-16 the Pirates only had eight minutes left in the first half. A steal by Mcqueen led to a fast break for a basket. Mcqueen side stepped multiple Ventura players and made the layup to start bringing the Pirates back.

A 30 second timeout by Ventra led to a steal by Santos and a layup by Madassalia bringing the Pirates to within 26-21. A turnover for the Ventura team quickly turned into a steal by Madassalia who made the three point jump shot like it was easy as he was assisted by Walker. Elijah Seales made the last margin in the first half for the Pirates with an expert layup with the assist by Walker. This gave PC a 41-37 halftime lead.

The second half started with a pass to Jaden Pena who nailed the layup and then a steal by Mcqueen from Ventura led to Walker landing the three point jumper to give PC a 46-47 lead. Continuing the game a foul from Ventura let Madassalia make both of his free throws, giving PC a 50-40 lead.

Another three point shot from Walker with the assist by Justin Sabater gave PC a 53-40 lead with 15 minutes left in the game. Ventura started comeback that didn’t let up until it was within three points at 53-50.

The Pirates Quincy White was fast off the rebound, passing two defenders and then working around the basket to land a three point shot with seeming ease as Walker assisted him. Within seconds Ventura nailed a layup and Walker made another three point shot with an assist by Sterling. This fast paced back and forth continued for a few minutes until a timeout by Ventura brought the game to a halt with a PC ahead 61-54 and 11 minutes to go.

Ventura made substantial progress and tied the game 63-63 with six minutes left. Without missing a beat Ventura continued to race down the court taking the lead and keeping it for the remaining few minutes of play.

The Pirates next game is scheduled for 6 p.m. against Cerro Coso at home on Tuesday.