It could have been anyone.
Any one of the handful of Ventura College players to have scored at least 30 points in a game this season could have been the one to shoulder his team’s playoff fortunes in a playoff opener against No. 13 East Los Angeles on Feb. 28 at home.
On Saturday night, it was Kam’Ron Cigar.
The sophomore wing lit up the nets in the semifinals of the California Community College Athletic Association Southern California men’s basketball playoffs, scoring a game-high 33 points and shooting 10 of 14 from the field as the Pirates powered past East L.A. in the second half en route to a 93-71 victory.
Cigar didn’t miss a single shot from inside the 3-point line, finishing 10 of 10 on 2-pointers and 10 of 10 from the free-throw line in a dazzling display of tough shot-making.
“That’s what Kam does,” VC head coach Kane Daniels said. “If you put him on an island and he is going to go one-on-one, I am taking him over everybody. But that is also the beauty of our team — it can happen for anyone on any given night.”
Ventura College (25-4) will play San Diego City College (24-5) at home on Saturday, March 7, in the SoCal Regional final, with a state tournament berth on the line. The Pirates last played in a regional final in 2023, falling to Citrus 96-93 in overtime.
Cigar, a sophomore, was on the roster for a tumultuous 2024-25 season that saw Ventura win just 11 games — the program’s worst win total in a decade. He didn’t waver.
“The reason I stayed is because I believed in the coaches. We had an 11-win season, but I knew we could do way better than that,” Cigar said. “Believing in (the) coaching, staying in the gym with my teammates, consistently grinding every day with my teammates and coaches, that is what got us here.”
Coming out of halftime knotted up, 38-38, after a messy first half, the Pirates focused on limiting extra possessions for an athletic East L.A. team. The program, and community college basketball in California, was put under the spotlight when East L.A. was featured on Netflix’s “Last Chance U Basketball“ for the 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons.
“We had a big emphasis on boxing out, keeping them off the offensive glass,” Daniels said. “We came out, adjusted and ended up winning the rebounding battle. Ultimately, I think that was what won us the game.“
Ventura’s shooters also came alive after a cold first half, drilling shot after shot from the left corner in front of their bench. The Pirates hit four in a row from that spot in just over four minutes to power a 15-3 run.
Sophomore point guard Snookie Wigington, listed at just 5-foot-9, left his fingerprints all over the win by finishing with 13 points, 11 assists, four rebounds and the team’s lone block in 40 minutes of action. His assist to Jeremiah Wilson in the corner from his knees after snatching up a loose ball kickstarted the surge for Ventura.
Baron Bellamy had 17 points, seven rebounds and two steals and Jerimiyah Smith added 11 points and 11 rebounds. The Pirates also got solid minutes off the bench from 7-foot forward Tong Tong, who had six points and six rebounds.
Daniels gestured up at the four CCCAA state championship banners hanging in the Ventura College gym, the last of which was earned in 1995, after the victory.
“It was really important for us, wanting to come out here and turn the program around and get the program back to where it was,” Daniels said. “We want to bring one of these state championship banners back.”
Moorpark women reach final
Ventura College men’s basketball isn’t the only local team still dancing.
The No. 3 Moorpark women’s team will play in its seventh straight CCCAA SoCal Regional Final after holding off No. 19 Bakersfield in a 55-53 thriller at home.
Sophomore sharpshooter Keilani Peralta, who set Camarillo High’s single-game record for 3-pointers (8) in 2023, led the Raiders with a game-high 18 points and all four of her team’s 3-pointers. She nailed one of two free throws after an intentional foul from Bakersfield with 5.7 seconds on the clock to put her team up 55-53.
A 3-point attempt from Bakersfield at the buzzer missed.
Maleyni Tolliver and Hannah Lising each had double-doubles for Moorpark. Tolliver finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds and added three blocks. Lising had 10 points and 10 rebounds and added five assists and four steals.
The Raiders (26-3) will host No. 6 Cypress on Saturday, March 7, at 7 p.m. in the SoCal Regional final.
VC women lose
The end of the line for the No. 23 Ventura women’s basketball team came on the road against No. 11 Long Beach. The Pirates shot just 3 of 25 from beyond the 3-point line in the 68-50 defeat.
Freshman forward and Oxnard High graduate Kayla Lumas had 20 points and pulled down nine rebounds and her Yellowjackets teammate Charnelle Nichols registered a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Buena High graduate Olivia Decierdo scored 13 points for the Pirates (15-14).
Moorpark men fall at home
The No. 14 Moorpark men’s basketball team lost, 66-58, to No. 19 Irvine Valley at home in a first-round game.
Freshman Roman Finney led the Raiders with 16 points and four offensive rebounds.
Josh Castaniero, a Camarillo High graduate and The Star’s 2024-25 Boys Basketball Player of the Year, finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals and former Scorpions teammate Noah Cotton added 10 points and seven rebounds. Calabasas High graduate Tidiane Sy had 11 points for the Raiders (19-10).
Dominic Massimino is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at dominic.massimino@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on Twitter and Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Red-hot Cigar leads Ventura College to SoCal Regional final
Reporting by Dominic Massimino, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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