Irvine Valley followed up its best win of the season with one of its most disappointing ones last Friday.
The Lasers, who knocked off Saddleback at Saddleback in overtime on Wednesday, lost in overtime at Santa Ana, 70-67, on Friday.
The loss dropped Irvine Valley from the top spot in the Orange Empire Conference.
Irvine Valley, ranked No. 12 in the state, saw its record fall to 18-2 overall and 3-1 in conference. Santa Ana improved to 9-8 overall and 3-0 in conference.
The Dons took an 11-point lead (35-24) into the half, but Irvine Valley began chipping away at the lead in the second half before taking the lead at 38-37 on a pair free throws by freshman guard Jimmy Golden just over six minutes in into the second half.
Erik Emanuel put the Dons back on top with a layup, starting a series of lead changes.
The Lasers eventually stopped the back-and-forth action with a three-pointer by sophomore guard Shaquille Hunter with seven minutes remaining. It gave IVC a 50-47 lead.
Irvine Valley continued to hold that lead until Damien Benson tied the game at 57-57 with two minutes left.
Cammie Lewis followed with a three-pointer to snap the tie before the Lasers went back on top at 61-59 with 17 seconds left after a pair of free throws by sophomore center Declan Daly and a three-pointer by Hunter.
Down to their last shot, the Dons were able to force overtime when Lewis found Cameron Hill under the basket for a layup with one second left.
"We had a chance to win in the second half," Hernandez said. "We didn't play well in the first half and then after we got back in it in the second half we had some costly turnovers. And I think our guys got a little tired."
Irvine Valley opened the scoring in overtime with a free throw by freshman guard Jalen Hall before DuJuan Williams put the Dons up 64-62 on a three-pointer.
The Dons never relinquished the lead from there, despite the Lasers getting to within 68-67 with 12 seconds remaining on a three-pointer by freshman forward Chris Porter.
Damien Benson made two free throws with nine seconds remaining for Santa Ana and Irvine Valley turned the ball over at the end of the game.
Lewis led the way with 20 points while Benson contributed 11 points for the Dons.
Irvine Valley got 14 points from Golden and 13 points each from Porter and Hunter. Porter also had 10 rebounds.
Irvine Valley was out-rebounded, 38-31, including, 15-8, on the offensive end and the Lasers also committed 18 turnovers in the game.
The Lasers play again Wednesday night hosting Fullerton at 5:30 p.m.
