Home › Sports › College
Ventura College men's basketball team clinches share of another Western State Conference title
Download this story as a podcast!
STORY TOOLS 
More from CollegeSANTA BARBARA — The load may be getting heavier, but it doesn't seem to bother Kevin Menner and Brandon Dixon.
Menner and Dixon scored 27 points apiece as the Ventura College men's basketball team clinched a share of its seventh straight Western State Conference title with an 87-66 win at Santa Barbara City on Saturday night.
"Before we left, I asked them if there was a place on that banner for 2008," said Ventura coach Greg Winslow. "Wednesday we're going to try to make sure we don't have to share it."
Ventura (24-5), ranked No. 8 in Southern California, improved to 10-0 in WSC North play. Fifth-place Santa Barbara (10-14) fell to 3-7.
Only a regular season-ending two-game losing streak, like the one the Pirates suffered last year against Moorpark and Cuesta, would allow second-place Oxnard (15-15, 8-2) a chance to grab a piece of the title.
The Condors, who suffered their second WSC loss to Santa Barbara, visit Ventura on Wednesday night.
"It's going to be tough," said Winslow. "It's tough beating a team three times."
Eric Gray added 11 points and Prince Abidoye filled in admirably for injured point guard Dee Pinkard, contributing seven points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
"We knew this was a big game and I just did the best I could," said Abidoye.
"Dee is a huge loss," said Winslow. "We have to tighten up the rotation. Guys are going to have to play more minutes."
And it helps to have stars like Menner and Dixon, who combined to shoot 18 of 23 from the field. Dixon added nine rebounds.
Santa Barbara trailed by six, 40-34, at the half and by five, 58-53, with 12:17 to play.
(Requires free registration.)
Article discussions on this site are to support community debates of issues related to our stories and editorials.
Discussions should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial.
We do not allow the following:
We reserve the right to delete threads and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary.
Opinions are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.