The Ventura College men's basketball team will find an early holiday present under the basket when it opens up the annual Roy Gilmore Invitational tonight.

After missing 13 games with his third broken foot in barely a year in Ventura, sophomore guard Danny Benson will make his season debut.

"His conditioning will be a factor, but he looks good in practice," said VC coach Greg Winslow. "It'll be nice to have our leader back."

The Pirates (10-3), ranked No. 9 in Southern California, host a holiday tournament lineup packed with three other ranked teams — No. 2 Fullerton (10-2), No. 7 Mount San Jacinto (12-1) and No. 13 College of the Desert (9-2).

Ventura plays Desert tonight at 7.

"They're much better than they've been in the past," said Winslow. "They smacked us when we went to Irvine Valley for our (preseason) scrimmage, beating us by 15. "We're expecting a very competitive game."

In today's other quarterfinals, Fullerton faces West Los Angeles (6-4) at 1 p.m., Mount San Jacinto plays Hancock (5-7) at 3 p.m. and Imperial Valley (5-4) tips off against Santa Ana (4-8) at 5 p.m.

Coaches will wear Hawaiian shirts to honor the memory of Gilmore, the former VC assistant coach who died during a 2003 practice.

The field may not have looked like much in September, but it must be one of the toughest of the month now. Fullerton and Mount San Jacinto entered last weekend's Riverside tournament ranked No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, with a combined 17-0 record.

Fullerton handed Mount San Jacinto its only loss, 85-65, Dec. 6, before finally falling 114-110 to Riverside in four overtimes — the host and eventual tournament titlist — the next day. It also lost to 13-1 Citrus the next afternoon.

"You just never know from year to year who's going to be good," said Winslow. "No one expected them to be as good as they are."

The tournament features eight players who rank the Top 50 in the state in scoring, including Santa Ana's Tyre Thompson, Ventura's Kevin Menner and Fullerton's Justin Carter, who are third, fourth and fifth, respectively, with 24.2, 22.5 and 21.7 points per game.

Menner had 25 points and Tavaris Gilbert had 14 points, 10 rebounds and several big plays down the stretch as Ventura held off West Hills, 74-69, on Tuesday.

"We did a good job of finishing," said Winslow. "All things considered, I think we're playing pretty well."

The Pirates have won seven of eight games.

Benson missed all 12 games of the Western State Conference season a year ago after breaking his right foot Dec. 30 at Compton. He returned in time for the postseason, but reinjured the foot in the regional final win over Riverside March 5.

Agonizingly and amazingly, he broke the left foot less than a week before his sophomore season began Nov. 8.