Offensive Lag Hits Canyons in 83-68 Loss to Ventura

The box score from Tuesday night’s game between College of the Canyons and Ventura will show that Canyons’ Vincent Ray scored nine points and James Mixon scored 12.

For Canyons, that’s somewhat disappointing considering that Ray, the team’s leading scorer, had averaged 22 points a game. Ray averaged almost 20.

The lagging offense was felt as Canyons lost at Ventura, 83-68, in its next to last non-conference game before Mountain Valley Conference play begins next week. After the loss, Canyons Coach Lee Smelser searched for an explanation.

“We’re limited,” he said. “If we don’t play hard with the kind of intensity we’re used to, we’ll come up short. “We didn’t play well in the first 10 minutes and they jumped out and got a lead and we ended up having to play catch-up for the rest of the game.”

Actually, the Cougars trailed by only three, 20-17, at the 10-minute mark, but it may have seemed like more. Ventura, playing superb defense, frustrated the Cougars by consistently swatting or stealing Canyons’ passes. Just when it looked like Canyons would start to control the tempo of the game, the Pirates tripped them up by intercepting or blocking a pass.

“We’re not a conservative team,” Smelser said. “So there are more chances for us to drop the ball or throw it away.”

Even so, the team’s two best shooters combined for only 21 points, an unusual total. Ironically, freshman Kevin Honaker, who is not a starter, scored 14.

Said Smelser: “It was a lot of things. We didn’t shoot very well. We were hot and cold and we kept throwing the ball away. Foul trouble hurt us again tonight.”

Freshman center Anthony Hines took brief rests on the bench because of foul trouble and eventually left the game with five late in the second half. “Without him in there, we’re not going to do so well,” Smelser said.

The absence of David Strauss also hurt the Cougars. The 6-5 forward, who had played an integral part of the Cougars’ budding fast-break offense, was lost for the entire season because of a knee injury.

Canyons gave up a height advantage to Ventura. The Pirates used four players who were as tall or taller than the biggest man on the Canyons team.

Ventura’s Kevin Venable, 6-7, scored 16 points from inside and center Oval Miller, 6-8, scored 16 in a substitute role. Forward Lawson Smith, 6-8, scored 13.

Smelser was correct. Canyons spent most of the game playing catch up. That is a good thing. Without it, the Cougars may have lost by more than they actually did. After trailing by 11 in the middle of the first half, the Cougars came to life and eventually trailed by only five at halftime, largely because of Ron Stapp, who scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in the first half.

But five minutes in to the second, Canyons had been outscored, 10-2, were not able to recover.

‘It’s kind of disappointing,” Smelser said. “They were just hot and then so cold. If we don’t execute and play a lot harder, we’re not going to do very well.”

Canyons (9-7) will play Victor Valley Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at College of the Canyons.