Men's basketball team leads all the way in win at Riverside

Courtesy of Toni Lavacot
Courtesy of Toni Lavacot

Irvine Valley's men's basketball team led from start to finish and picked up an important win Tuesday night on the road.

The Lasers beat Riverside, 67-59, in an Orange Empire Conference game on the road.

The win coupled with Cypress upsetting Santa Ana in overtime at Santa Ana, pushed Irvine Valley into second place by itself in the conference standings.

Irvine Valley improved its record to 13-11 overall and 6-3 in conference. Riverside slipped to 9-16 overall and 4-6 in conference.

IVC made seven of its first nine shots from the floor, including three of four on three-pointers, en route to an 18-10 advantage to open the game.

The Lasers never looked back. They were up, 35-24, at halftime and by as many as 13 points in the second half.

Sophomore guard Chris Salas' layup gave Irvine Valley a 53-40 advantage with 8:11 left to play.

IVC sophomore guard Ronnie Harris came off the bench to lead the Lasers with 11 points, five assists and two steals. Sophomore guard Jalen Hall and Salas each had had 10 points for Irvine Valley.

Freshman forward Craig Magyar finished with nine points and sophomore forward Chris Porter had eight points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Lasers.

Irvine Valley shot an efficient 57.1 percent (24 of 42) from the field for the game and made 7 of 14 three-pointers (50 percent).

IVC's bench also out-scored Riverside, 31-20.

For Riverside, sophomore forward Taj Adams had a game-high 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

Irvine Valley returns to action on Thursday, hosting Cypress at 5 p.m.

It is homecoming night at Irvine Valley with games, food and fun happening outside of Hart Gymnasium prior to tip-off.