Irvine Valley's men's basketball team fell to Fullerton, 67-55, in an Orange Empire Conference opening game on Wednesday night at IVC.
The loss snapped a three-game win streak for IVC.
The Lasers, who were ranked No. 12 in Southern California, saw their record slip to 12-5 overall and 0-1 in conference.
Fullerton, ranked No. 13 in the state and seventh in Southern California, improved to 13-5 overall and 1-0 in conference.
IVC was paced by freshman guard Mike Turner, freshman guard Isaiah Milan and sophomore guard Jacob Short, who each finished with 10 points.
The game was close throughout much of the first half. The score was tied, 30-30. Fullerton took a 32-30 lead into halftime after Ian Fox made a layup in the final seconds of the half.
Irvine Valley took a 33-32 lead a minute into the second half on a layup by Turner.
But Fullerton snatched the lead right back on a layup by Kenny Barnes to make it 34-33 and the Hornets never trailed again.
A basket by Isaiah Clark and then a layup by Fox with 11:31 left in the game put Fullerton ahead, 46-35.
Irvine Valley got to within 57-52 on a three-pointer by sophomore forward Jacob Dean with 3:30 to play.
But it wasn't enough.
Overall in the second half, Fullerton out-scored Irvine Valley, 35-25.
The Hornets shot 53.8 percent (14 of 26) from the field in the final 20 minutes and made 7 of 9 free throws.
The Lasers didn't help themselves with 17 turnovers in the game. Fullerton turned those turnovers into 17 points.
The Hornets only turned the ball over 10 times themselves. Fullerton also had a big edge inside, out-scoring Irvine Valley, 42-18.
Fullerton was paced by Julian Richardson with 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Kenny Barnes had 17 points and six rebounds, Fox finished with 13 points and Clark had 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday, traveling to Cypress for a 5 p.m. conference game.
