Irvine Valley's men's basketball team led early and was within striking range at halftime, but Saddleback used a big second half to pull away and beat the Lasers, 65-51, in an Orange Empire Conference game on Wednesday night at Saddleback.
Breaon Brady scored 19 points as Saddleback won its 1,000th game in the history of the program.
The Gauchos, ranked No. 1 in the state, improved their record to 19-1 overall and 4-0 in conference.
Irvine Valley's record slipped to 12-8 overall and 0-4 in conference.
Saddleback and Irvine Valley were close through the first 20 minutes, with Saddleback taking a 29-26 lead into the break.
Brady, a 6-8 post player from Akron, Ohio, had a big first half, leading the Gauchos with 10 points and four rebounds.
Sophomore forward Jacob Dean had six points and freshman guard Chris Lott chipped in five points and five rebounds in the opening half for IVC.
Saddleback built its lead early in the second half. The Gaucho advantage went from three points to 12 in a matter of minutes.
The Lasers finished with 25 points in the second frame, making just 5 of 17 shots for the half.
Saddleback led by as many as 20 points in the second half.
Dean finished with 11 points and four rebounds, Lott had eight points and six rebounds and freshman guard Zuri Williams came off the bench with eight points for IVC.
Irvine Valley ended up shooting 34.8 percent (16 of 46) for the game and made just 3 of 15 (20.0 percent) on three-point attempts.
Irvine Valley plays again Friday, hosting Riverside at 5 p.m.