Irvine Valley's men's basketball team had its chances in the final minutes, but couldn't pick up a win Wednesday night at home against El Camino.
El Camino scored 53 points in the first half and went on for a 87-84 victory.
The loss dropped Irvine Valley's record to 4-2 overall. El Camino improved to 6-1.
Sophomore forward Zach Harvey led the Lasers with 17 points, four rebounds and two blocks. Sophomore guard Mike Turner added 15 points and five rebounds, but was in foul trouble much of the night.
Freshman forward Lance Coleman II contributed 14 points and nine rebounds and sophomore guard Zuri Williams chipped in nine points, four assists and two steals.
El Camino, who came into the game averaging 100.6 points per contest, had five players in double figures.
Gavin Reagan finished with 21 points, Martyre Demarco and Brandon Guerrero each had 12 points, Jamal Heckard ended with 11 points and Brandon Harris added 10 points. Guerrero also had seven assists and two steals.
El Camino led, 53-40, at the end of the first half after shooting 54.3 percent as a team from the field.
The Warriors took their largest lead at 71-55 with 13:06 left on a layup by Reagan.
The Lasers started to chip away after that, scoring the next 11 points over the next three and a half minutes.
Freshman forward Zane Paddon made a three-pointer, sophomore forward Riley Kemmer added two free throws and Paddon made a layup to bring IVC to within 71-62 with 11:19 to play.
A dunk by freshman guard Nate Barker and a layup by Williams made it a 71-66 game with 9:27 left.
El Camino answered and took a 85-73 lead after a layup by Heckard with 5:13 to go.
IVC then went on a 9-0 run, capped by a three-pointer by Turner to make it a 85-82 game with 3:18 to play.
And the Lasers moved within a point at 85-84 after a layup by Williams.
But Guerrero was able to score on a layup with 1:05 left to give El Camino a 87-84 lead.
That is the way it ended.
IVC had its opportunities. But the Lasers missed a layup and three three-pointers in the final minute.
Irvine Valley doesn't play again until next Thursday when it travels to the Monterey Peninsula Tournament. IVC opens against a tough Yuba team on Thursday.
