Men's basketball player Declan Daly headed to San Marcos

Men's basketball player Declan Daly headed to San Marcos

Irvine Valley sophomore men's basketball player Declan Daly has signed with NAIA Cal State San Marcos.

Daly, a 6-7 center, played his sophomore year at IVC and helped lead the team to one of the best seasons in program history.

Daly, a product of Kennedy High in Anaheim, spent his first season playing basketball at the community college level at MiraCosta in Oceanside.

Daly was part of a Irvine Valley team in 2013-14 that had a record of 25-5 overall.

The Lasers won their first 12 games of the season and were ranked No. 1 in the state for the first time in college history last December.

IVC won three tournament titles, finished third in the Orange Empire Conference and reached the Southern California Regional Playoffs.

Daly was one of three Irvine Valley players to be named first team all-conference.

He averaged 8.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and shot 59.5 percent from the field overall for the season.

Daly ranked second in the conference in field goal percentage and fourth in rebounding.

He scored in double figures in 12 games with a season-high 18 points in an early-year IVC win at Cuyamaca.

Daly had a season-best 17 rebounds in a win at Orange Coast in January during conference play.

Daly earned first team all-conference honors at MiraCosta as a freshman in 2012-13, averaging 12.0 rebounds per game.  He helped MiraCosta to its first conference title in 15 years.

He is headed to a San Marcos team that spent seven straight weeks ranked No. 1 in the NAIA and earned the top overall seed for the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship last year.

CSUSM won 23 straight games before falling in the Elite Eight to national runner-up Emmanuel (Ga.).

The Cougars finished the year with a 32-2 overall mark.