Jessie, Ramirez Give Ventura 1-2 Punch : Men’s basketball: Pirates defeat Long Beach City, 71-68, behind their two sophomores.

Joey Ramirez and Brandon Jessie soon will need broader shoulders. Carrying the Ventura College team is becoming a habit.

Once again, the sophomores were the key elements in Ventura’s 71-68 nonconference victory over Long Beach City on Wednesday night at Ventura.

Jessie, a 6-foot-5 forward, had game-high totals of 30 points and 19 rebounds; Ramirez, a 5-10 point guard, added 21 points.

The victory gave Ventura (16-1), the state’s top-ranked team, a 16-game winning streak. Long Beach, ranked No. 5 in the state, dropped to 14-4.

Jessie did most of his damage in the first half, scoring 19 points to keep Ventura close. Long Beach led throughout most of the half. Three of Jessie’s baskets came on thunderous dunks from inside feeds after Long Beach defenders overplayed him.

Jessie made 11 of 18 shots from the field and five of eight free throws, and controlled the key defensively, blocking three shots and stealing the ball twice.

Jessie was double-teamed often in the second half, but that left Ramirez open for long-range shots and some sparkling drives. Ramirez scored 18 points in the final 20 minutes after making only a three-point basket in the first half.

“We wanted to put Joey and Brandon on the same side,” Ventura Coach Philip Mathews said. “They had to make a decision on who to guard. They decided to guard Brandon and that left Joey open.”

In three games at the Glendale tournament last week, Ramirez scored 68 points and Jessie had 67 in leading the Pirates to the championship. Ramirez was most valuable player of the tournament.

Long Beach City appeared less than impressed by Ventura’s recent success, jumping to a 10-2 advantage in the first five minutes.

The Vikings led, 33-26, before Ventura rallied with 10 unanswered points. A short jump shot by guard Sharif Metoyer at the buzzer pulled Long Beach to within 36-35 at the half.

Long Beach raced ahead, 52-40, with 13:11 to play on seven consecutive points by guard Marcus Rogers. But Ventura caught up, 56-56, on a pair of free throws by D’Mitri Rideout with 8:25 to play.

The Pirates went ahead, 67-62, on a basket by Ramirez with six minutes left but Long Beach closed the gap to 70-68 with 19 seconds to play on two free throws by forward Kevin Beal. Ramirez made a free throw with 16 seconds left for the final score.

Long Beach had a chance to tie as time ran out but Rogers missed a two-point shot instead of attempting a three-point shot.

“(Rogers) was completely messed up,” Long Beach Coach Gary Anderson said. “(The three-point shot) would have been hard to make but you have to try it.”

Beal and Rogers each scored 18 points for the Vikings.

Ventura shot 45.6% from the field and 55% from the free-throw line; Long Beach made 45.9% of its field-goal attempts and 66.7% of its free throws.

Leading, 65-60, Ventura missed a chance to put away the Vikings by missing five consecutive free throws.