Irvine Valley Classic men's basketball tourney set for Thursday

Irvine Valley Classic men's basketball tourney set for Thursday

Irvine Valley's men's basketball team hosts its annual IVC Classic this Thursday through Saturday.

Irvine Valley opens the tournament with a game against Long Beach at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

There will be four games on both Thursday and Friday and three games on Saturday, including the championship at 4 p.m.

Teams in this year's even include Long Beach City, Cuyamaca, Santa Monica, Canyons, Ventura, Irvine Valley, Imperial Valley and Cerritos.

Cerritos is the top-ranked team heading into the event. The Falcons were ranked No. 13 in the state in the preseason coaches' poll.

Irvine Valley has won the tournament the last two seasons. It beat Canyons, 72-64, in overtime last year.

Jimmy Golden, who has since transferred to play at Sonoma State, was the MVP for the Lasers.

Irvine Valley, which was ranked No. 12 in Southern California in the coaches poll, is off to a 1-1 start so far this year.

IVC won its opening game of the season last week at El Camino, 70-59. Sophomore forward Jacob Dean led IVC with 11 points.

Freshman guard Chris Lott and sophomore guard Jacob Short each added 10 points. Freshman forward Zach Harvey finished with nine points, six rebounds and four blocked shots and sophomore forward Craig Magyar had eight points.

Irvine Valley then fell at Cuyamaca, 80-67, last Friday night.

The Lasers return four players from last year's team that went 16-11 overall and finished second in the Orange Empire Conference with a mark of 9-3. They are Magyar, Dean, Short and forward Tanner Aguera.

Magyar averaged 5.9 points and 2.9 rebounds a year ago.

2015 Irvine Valley Classic Men's Basketball Tournament

Thursday, Nov. 19 Schedule

Ventura vs. Cerritos 2 p.m.

Imperial Valley vs. Canyons 4 p.m.

Long Beach City vs. Irvine Valley 6 p.m.

Santa Monica vs. Cuyamaca 8 p.m.