Long Beach City Comes Up Short of Ventura This Time : Basketball: Pirates win 19th in row, reverse outcome of last year’s state final, 87-76.

If the Ventura College men’s basketball team never again sees Long Beach City, it’ll be too soon.

After leading by 17 points in the second half, the Pirates had to sweat out the final minutes Thursday night for an 87-76 nonconference victory over the Vikings.

“It was a game of runs,” said Philip Mathews, Ventura coach. “I think we wore them down in the end.”

Ventura extended its season-opening winning streak to 19 games and for the third time in four games defeated a team ranked among the top 10 in the state.

Defending state champion Long Beach (16-5), ranked seventh, was the last team to beat the Pirates--63-61 in the state championship game last March.

“(Ventura) is a comparable team to last season’s,” said Gary Anderson, Long Beach coach. “They are very strong inside and have good guards. . . . Phil has a lot of depth and it causes problems.”

With the game tied, 42-42, the Pirates scored the final nine points of the first half for a 51-42 cushion.

They increased the margin to 65-48 with 12:55 to play on a three-point basket by guard Shannon Taylor and a layup by forward Gerald Zimmerman.

Long Beach capitalized on several turnovers by Ventura’s orange unit, one of two five-man groups that Mathews rotates every few minutes, and closed the gap to 77-76 with 2:39 left on a three-point basket by Pete Sverkos.

“Our second group, for the first time this year, didn’t keep the lead,” Mathews said.

Curtis Ganes, who had 13 points, made a short jumper and then a bank shot to give Ventura breathing room, 81-76. Zimmerman, who scored 23 points, added two free throws that Hakeem Ward followed with a dunk, and Rafer Alston capped the scoring on two free throws with 12 seconds left.

Point guards Alston and Jamal Cobbs shared the backcourt late in the game because Mathews wanted the Pirates, who had 19 turnovers, to take better care of the ball.

“We went to that to protect the ball and create penetration opportunities,” Mathews said.

Mark Neal, Long Beach’s top gun at 17.2 points a game, had 16.