LANCASTER -- Oxnard College forward Scooter Holmes is in uniform and will attempt to play tonight.

The No. 20-seeded Condors, who lost their last two games of the season with Holmes sidelined with an injury to his shooting hand, look like they will have their star sophomore for tonight's Southern California regional first-round playoff game at No. 13 Antelope Valley.

"I'm not thinking about the pain," said Holmes. "Pain is temporary."

An hour before tipoff at Marauder Gym, Holmes was the first Oxnard player in the team's blue road uniforms as the teams held a pregame shootaround.

"Scooter is so tough," said Oxnard coach Jason Cunningham. "He's played with plenty of (problems) before."

Round 9 of the WSC North basketball campaign arrives tonight. I'm in Santa Maria at Joe White Memorial Gymnasium to see how the Condors bounce back from their loss last week at Ventura, but I'll be updating as many scores as we can find here on Twitter.

Men's schedule, 5 p.m.
Hancock 82, Oxnard 75 FINAL Oxnard fell out of first place with its second straight loss, despite 35 points from Marcus Falley, 10 points and 11 rebounds from Codye Hatcher and 10 points from Steven Powell. Hancock forward Ali Langford had 21 points and 7 rebounds and Jordan Dina added 19 points.
Ventura 93, Cuesta 80 FINAL James Ennis had 25 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals to push the Pirates back into first place in the WSC North by a half game. VC outrebounded the Cougars 43-22, led by Mike Melonas' 11. Cuesta star Malte Kramer was limited to 12 points on eight field goal attempts.
Los Angeles Pierce 84, Moorpark 75 FINAL (OT) The Brahmas scored all nine points in overtime. Moorpark's Jamal McClerkin made two free throws in the final minute of regulation to force overtime.

Women's schedule, 7 p.m.
Hancock 86, Oxnard 65 FINAL The Condors fell despite 37 points and 16 rebounds from sophomore Nikki Tauau. Hancock's Camille Zumbro had 29 points.
Ventura 62, Cuesta 55 FINAL Rebecca Griffin and Candace Sakuda make free throws down the stretch in a one-possession game as the Pirates hold off host Cuesta to improve to 8-0 in the WSC North. Ventura improved to 2-0 without head coach Ned Mircetic, who is battling the flu. Destinee LaFountain had 14 points and 15 rebounds, Rebecca Griffin had 13 points, Stephanie Ramirez had 12 points, Candace Sakuda had 11 points for the Pirates.
Moorpark 84, Los Angeles Pierce 73 FINAL Sidney Dobner had 24 points, 10 assists and four steals, Ashley Samson had 22 points and Dee Kapil had 17 points for the Raiders, who took sole possession of second place with the win.

The first rotation of the WSC North basketball campaign wraps up tonight with round seven. I'll be at the VC Athletic Event Center for the Oxnard-Ventura rivalry doubleheader, but we'll be updating as many scores as we can find here on Twitter or you can listen live on HomefieldSports.com.

Read the preview of tonight's game here and today's feature on Oxnard sophomore leader Phillip "Scooter" Holmes here.

Men's schedule, 5 p.m.
Ventura 95, Oxnard 71 FINAL Former Oxnard forward James Ennis had 23 points and eight rebounds for Ventura men. Center Mike Melonas had 18 points and eight rebounds and point guard Eric Mitchell added 16 points.Oxnard was led by 21 points and 10 rebounds from Gary Johnson, 19 points from Marcus Falley and eight points, 10 rebounds and three blocks from Codye Hatcher.
Santa Barbara City 70, Cuesta 67 FINAL
Hancock 78, Los Angeles Pierce 70 FINAL

Women's schedule, 7 p.m.
Ventura 84, Oxnard 22 FINAL The Ventura women lead rival Oxnard 44-14 at the half. Rebecca Griffin has a game-high 10 points and Destinee LaFountain has nine points. Nikki Tauau leads Oxnard with 6.
Santa Barbara City 83, Cuesta 70 FINAL
Los Angeles Pierce 77, Hancock 69 FINAL In a showdown of the Top 2 scorers in the state, Pierce's Monica Jackson had 34 points and Hancock's Camille Zumbro had 34 points.

The Oxnard College men's basketball team finds itself in a strange position this week.
In control of the Western State Conference race.

Wednesday's results, which included a 70-68 OC win over visiting Santa Barbara City, put the Condors two full games ahead of the chasing pack in the WSC North, the two-loss crew of Ventura, Hancock and Santa Barbara.

It's probably been a generation, since the title-winning teams of Leroy Porter in 1979, 1980 and 1982, since the Condors last wrapped their talons around the WSC in such a way.

"Last year, we knocked off some big fish," said Oxnard coach Jason Cunningham. "This year, we're trying to be the big fish."

With teams led by Chris Massie, Jeremiah Massey and others, Oxnard has had the talent to be in this position previously. But this group, led by 6-foot-4 sophomore forward Scooter Holmes, showed its mettle Wednesday night.

Santa Barbara City may have lost by 30 points at Condor Center on Nov. 27, but the Vaqueros were coming off an upset win over Ventura Saturday and built a 60-53 lead with less than seven minutes to play.

"There were more prepared for what we were trying to do," said Holmes.

With high-scoring sophomore Marc Pajund out injured and high-scoring freshman Marcus Falley limited to 13 points, Holmes, who sometimes fulfils his role as a sophomore leader by yielding some of the glory to his younger teammates, took control, sparking a key 13-3 run with a thunderous dunk in transition.

"Because everybody else is playing so well, I think Scooter sometimes takes a back seat," said Cunningham. "But we needed our all-conference player."

After Malcolm Pope's steal and layup tied the game 62-62, Holmes gave Oxnard its first lead with a put back with 2:28 to play.

"It was just one of those nights when I had to play well for us to win," said Holmes, who finished with 23 points, including 19 in the second half, and six rebounds. "It was on my back."

Santa Barbara had the ball trailing by 2 with 12 seconds to play, but Holmes' steal inside
clinched the win.

"We played like a team that's trying to be a champion is supposed to," said Cunningham.
"We were down, we had the gut check and we were committed to do the things to get ourselves back in the basketball game."