Ventura Winning Streak Now at 16 After 88-73 Victory Over Fullerton

Ventura College increased an already impressive basketball winning streak to 16 games Wednesday night with an 88-73 victory over Fullerton in a second-round game of the Southern California regional junior college tournament at Ventura College.

Thanks to a 31-point performance from sophomore guard DiJon Barnard, Coach Phil Mathews and his Ventura team (30-4) will have the chance to extend that streak Saturday evening at home against Cypress.

If the second-seeded Pirates can improve the streak to 17, they also can earn a berth in the state championship tournament, which they won in 1987.

Fullerton (16-16) knew it would have to stop 6-foot-6 center Lester Neal, the Western State Conference player of the year, to have a chance at an upset.

The Hornets did hold Neal to five first-half points, but that gave Barnard the opportunity to bomb away from the perimeter.

“They were on Lester so much,� said Barnard, who connected on four three-point shots. “I was open a lot tonight, I mean really open, and I took advantage of it.�

Forward Uba Satterfield also took advantage of the Fullerton coverage on Neal, adding 21 points.

“The word out is to stop Neal but don’t let the other guys get you,� Fullerton Coach Roger See said.

“We did a good job on Neal, but the other two guys (Barnard and Satterfield) killed us.�

Ventura, the Western State Conference’s Northern Division champion, took a commanding 58-39 lead early in the second half, but Fullerton, behind the play of freshman forward Bob Terry (31 points and 10 rebounds), went on a 16-0 run to cut the Pirate lead to 58-55 before Neal got involved in the offense.

Neal took command in the lane and led a 17-4 outburst over the next five minutes to help secure the victory.

Neal, the state’s leading rebounder, added 12 more boards to that category. He finished the game with 15 points.

“They made a good run at us, but our kids came back and made their good run too,� Mathews said.