The Pirates' men's basketball team traveled to San Luis Obispo Wednesday, falling to Cuesta 73-57 in a Western State Conference contest. Kam'Ron Cigar came off the bench to score 16 points to lead Ventura and Jeremiah Wilson totaled 10 points with a team-best seven rebounds. Kevin Hymes and Elijah Brown each scored nine points in the setback.
After the Cougars got out to the quick start, Ventura's Wilson single-handedly brought the Pirates back. He scored VC's first nine points and tied the game at 8-8 with a pair of free throws at the 13:34 mark of the first half. Cuesta responded with a 7-0 run before Wilson's charity shot ended the skid three minutes later. William Caceres hit from range to halve the deficit on the next possession and the Pirates trailed in close fashion for the remainder of the half. Ventura was down 28-24 at intermission.
Brown scored the first five points of the second half for VC, including a 3-point play with 17:50 remaining to pull the Pirates to within 32-29. Unfortunately, the Cougars took advantage of a three minute Ventura scoring drought to build a double-digit lead and the Pirates were unable to make much headway the rest of the game.
Ventura next hosts Allan Hancock on Saturday Jan. 25. Tip-off is slated for 5:00 pm at the Athletic Event Center.