Men's basketball team pounds Fullerton for fourth straight win

Courtesy of Toni Lavacot
Courtesy of Toni Lavacot

Irvine Valley's men's basketball team closed out the regular season with an easy 70-49 win at Fullerton on Friday.

Irvine Valley out-scored Fullerton, 47-27, in the second half to pull away for the win.

The Lasers were paced by sophomore guard Chris Salas' 16 points.

Sophomore center Andrew Bastien finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, sophomore guard Kody Eckert added nine points and sophomore forward Chris Porter had 11 rebounds to go along with five points.

IVC shot just 33.8 percent (24 of 71) from the field, but made 17 of 22 free throws, out-rebounded Fullerton, 58-40, and dominated on points in the paint, 30-14, and points off turnovers, 15-2.

Fullerton shot just 28.8 percent (17 of 59) from the field for the game.

The game was tied, 23-23, after a free throw by Fullerton's Jake McCloskey less than a minute into the second half.

Salas then sank two three-pointers to put Irvine Valley ahead, 29-25.

Ahead, 31-28, Irvine Valley then went on a 19-4 run to put the game out of reach.

Two free throws by sophomore guard Jalen Hall and then a layup by Hall put the Lasers up, 50-32, with 10:37 to play.

Fullerton didn't get closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

Irvine Valley improved its record to 16-11 overall and 9-3 in the Orange Empire Conference.

The Lasers finished second in the conference standings and ended the regular season winning four games in a row and six of their final seven contests.

IVC will have to wait to find out if it makes the Southern California Regional Playoffs on Monday.