Irvine Valley's men's basketball team hung with Saddleback for most of the game on Friday night at Saddleback.
But the Lasers went cold down the stretch, scoring just two points over the final 7:42 of the contest, and fell, 63-49.
IVC pulled within, 50-49, after a jumper by sophomore guard Daniel Hernandez with 7:00 to play.
But Saddleback scored the final 13 points of the game.
Irvine Valley missed its last seven shots and had three turnovers in the final seven minutes of action.
Saddleback improved its record to 9-8 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while Irvine Valley's record fell to 12-7 overall and 1-1 in conference.
Hernandez paced Irvine Valley with 16 points, making 4 of 5 three-point shots.
But he was the only Laser player to score in double figures. Freshman guard Isaiah Mahmud added eight points and freshman guard Kevin Olsen had six points. Freshman forward Jake Linsky added seven rebounds.
Saddleback, which had a 34-27 lead at halftime, was paced by J.J. Overton. He ended with a season-high 24 points after going 8 of 13 from the field.
Colin Ferrier finished with 13 points off the bench and Shawn Stith had a team-high 10 rebounds.
Irvine Valley plays again on Wednesday, traveling to Joshua Tree to take on Copper Mountain in a conference game at 5 p.m.