In a two-point game with little more than two minutes to play, they were a key pair of free throws.

But Brandon Dixon was over the disappointment of missing both of them the moment the second bounced high off the back iron.

The body-banging forward from Pacifica High sprang off the foul line, rose and rammed home the rebound for the key points as the Ventura College men's basketball team defeated Mount San Jacinto, 91-85, in a riveting final of the fourth annual Roy Gilmore Invitational on Sunday night at the VC Athletic Event Center.

"I was in shock," said Dixon. "No one wanted the rebound, so I jumped as high as I could."

"Kaboom," said Ventura coach Greg Winslow.

Dixon's follow-up dunk gave Ventura (13-3), ranked No. 9 in Southern California, a 84-80 lead with 2:14 to play. Forward Tavaris Gilbert followed with the Pirates' only 3-pointer of the second half as Ventura finally put the No. 7-ranked Eagles (14-2) at arm's length.

"That's the best win of the season," said Winslow. "It's a confidence builder. These guys now know they can beat one of the elite teams in the state."

The high-tempo, high-drama finale featured 11 ties and several Santa hats in the crowd. The trophy is nice, but the real prize was a quality win that will be valuable come time to seed the playoffs.

The win was Ventura's sixth straight and 10 in 11 games.

"It took us a while to get into the groove of this," said Dixon, "but now we're playing how we're supposed to be playing."

Ventura's Kevin Menner scored 30 points, his eighth 20-point performance in the past nine games, to earn the tournament's Most Valuable Player award.

Dixon had 28 points and 13 rebounds and Gilbert added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Mount San Jacinto's Tim Island had 20 points. He was one of five Eagles in double figures.

"We're not going to win many games giving up 91 points," said Mount San Jacinto coach Patrick Springer.

Menner, Dixon and Island were joined on the all-tournament team by Justin Carter of Fullerton and Tim Jackson of West L.A. No. 2 Fullerton beat Santa Ana, 65-59, in the All-Orange Empire Conference third-place game. West Los Angeles beat Imperial Valley in the consolation game, 62-49.

Ventura will visit Long Beach City, which beat the Pirates at the buzzer, 69-66, on Nov. 16, on Wednesday before packing it in for the holiday break. No. 2 Fullerton visits Jan. 3.

"They're going to be really good once they get (Danny) Benson healthy," Springer said of Ventura.

Ventura held a 75-70 lead with five minutes left, but Island scored on back-to-back possessions — including a 25-foot trey — to knot the game at 75-75 with 4:24 left.