Oxnard College men's basketball coach Jason Cunningham reaches to the Condors moving within a game of first-place Cuesta in the loss column with a 75-70 win over Los Angeles Pierce Wednesday night:

"Pierce is a scrappy team, they play hard... I told our guys that it didn't bode well for our chances, considering the way we've played against sub-.500 teams."

When Oxnard fell behind by 11 in the first half, it still didn't look good, until Jonathan Johnson and Marc Pajund started hitting 3s, combining for 27 first-half points.

"Somehow we got right back in it. J.J. hit a 3. Pajund hit a 3. I guess it just clicked and these guys picked it up."

Of course, Pierce didn't go away.

"They fought to get back in the game, but we hit our free throws down the stretch."

(on Hancock handing Cuesta its first loss in WSC North play, rather than Oxnard)

"I was very upset about it. We truly felt that we had the talent and were good enough to beat them."

(On Saturday's trip to local rival Ventura)

"We know (the rivalry) from the three times we played them last year. It's going to be the same thing. We're going to play well for 20 minutes and the second half is a crapshoot.

"That's the scary thing. Even this week, I was more worried about playing (last-place) Pierce than (second-place) Ventura.

"We know the rivalry. We know these kids know each other. When we got into the van after the game tonight, we've got (Ventura's Will Faiivae) texting our guys talking about the game."

(On his memories from the three games against Ventura last season)

"Remember what I told you before the game over there (in conference). 'We're going to win tonight.' At halftime, when we were up by 20 (points), you could hear a pindrop over there."