Vikings pound the Panthers in season opener, 42-18

The Ventura boys basketball team had a strong start to the 2011-12 with a huge conference win, but finished the week with two non-conference losses.

Ventura 42, CWL 18
    Tuesday night’s win against Corwith-Wesley-LuVerne was a total team effort, as the entire Ventura bench got to see action in the big, 42-18, victory.
    The Vikings had a bit of a slow start to open the game, but still managed to gain an 11-5 advantage over the Panthers in the first quarter.  Ventura finally jelled in the second quarter and outscored CWL 9-3 for a 20-8 halftime score.
    The entire bench saw action in the second half, as the Vikings cruised to a 42-18 win.

G-H 51, Ventura 33    
    Ventura hosted Garner-Hayfield Thursday night, Dec. 1. 
    The game started slow for both teams, as it was two minutes into the game before a team scored.  Ventura struggled with the Cardinal press and fell behind, 19-3, in the first quarter.
    At one point in the second quarter the Vikings trailed by 18 points.  Behind the hot hand of Joel Toppin, who connected on a succession of three point shots, the Vikings finally got rolling.  Ventura closed the gap to 23-19 by halftime.
    The Cardinals came out on fire following the break and collected 10 unanswered points.  Ventura only managed four points in the third quarter for a 45-23 score.
    G-H finished the game strong for the final 62-30 victory.
    
Newman 58, Ventura 44
    If Ventura could have played the whole game against Newman Catholic like they did the first quarter, the outcome of the game would have been a lot different.
    The Vikings hosted Newman on Friday, Dec. 2, for a non-conference tilt.  Ventura was firing on all cylinders and captured a 20-10 first quarter lead.
    Some foul trouble in the second quarter benched Joel Toppin and Joel Watson.  That combined with some cold shooting, helped  Newman to gain a 27-24 halftime lead.
    Ventura tied the score at 31-31 in - Read More Via e-Edition