Irvine Valley's men's basketball team faces its second highly-ranked team in a row when it hosts Fullerton Wednesday night in an Orange Empire Conference game at 7 p.m.
The Lasers lost to Saddleback, which was ranked No. 1 in the state, 44-34, last Friday on the road.
Fullerton is ranked No. 13 in the state and No. 7 in Southern California.
Irvine Valley is tied for No. 15 in Southern California this week.
IVC led Saddleback, 16-14, at the half, but was out-scored, 30-18, in the second half. Irvine Valley shot just 31.0 percent (13 of 42) from the field as a team and was just 2 of 12 from three-point and 6 of 15 from the free throw line.
Freshman forward Lance Coleman II had nine points and seven rebounds for the Lasers in the defeat.
II leads the team and conference in scoring at 20.8 points per game. He also averages 6.3 rebounds a game.
Sophomore point guard Zuri Williams averages 9.3 points, 3.9 assists and 1.9 steals, sophomore wing Mike Turner is averaging 9.2 points and 1.1 steals and sophomore forward Zach Harvey averages 7.2 points and 5.2 rebounds a game.
Fullerton has a record of 13-5 overall and is 2-0 in the conference.
Fullerton defeated Cypress, 75-64, last Wednesday and then Santa Ana, 84-65, on Friday to open conference play.
Kendall Lauderdal led the way against Santa Ana with 21 points and seven rebounds. Kenny Barnes added 17 points and nine rebounds and Dillon Reise had 13 points and six rebounds.
Fullerton shot 50.8 percent (30 of 59) from the field as a team.
In their win over Cypress, the Hornets shot 62.5 percent.
On the year, Reise averages 12.2 points and 5.2 rebounds, Barnes is averaging 12.1 points and 5.1 rebounds, Ian Fox is averaging 11.9 points and 2.5 assists and Lauderdale averages 10.2 points and 5.1 rebounds a game.
Barnes is second in the conference in field goal percentage at 57.6 percent. Lauderdale ranks fourth at 54.5 percent.
