For about 55 minutes, the Irvine Valley men's basketball team couldn't shake Orange Coast.
The game was tied, 51-51, with 5:11 remaining.
But Irvine Valley clamped down and went on a 12-4 run to take control and come away with a 67-60 Orange Empire Conference win over the Pirates on Wednesday night at OCC.
Irvine Valley, ranked No. 17 in the state, improved its record to 21-3 overall and 6-2 in conference.
The Lasers stayed right on the heels of Saddleback and Santa Ana for the top spot in the standings. Each of those teams has one loss.
The win also gave Irvine Valley its second in a row heading into a showdown with rival Saddleback on Friday night at IVC at 7:30 p.m.
Irvine Valley was paced by sophomore guard Dathon Spencer, who came off the bench with 18 points.
He scored six of Irvine Valley's 12 points during the final run to help put the game away.
Sophomore guard Shaquille Hunter added 11 points and six rebounds, while sophomore forward Yanick Kulich came off the bench to chip in 10 points.
Irvine Valley shot 50 percent (25 of 50) from the field in the game, but made just 3 of 14 three-pointers (21.4 percent). Freshman guard Jimmy Golden hit two three-pointers and Hunter made one.
Brad Buchignani led Coast (7-17, 1-6) with 16 points on 5 of 6 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers, while Devaun Evans added 15 points and Henry Nguyen contributed nine points.
Friday's contest with Saddleback at home is the finale of the President's Cup competition between the two schools. Irvine Valley and Saddleback split the first two games in the series with the IVC men's squad beating Saddleback and the IVC women's team falling to the Gauchos at Saddleback.
