Basketball team has rough night against strong Cerritos squad

Courtesy of On My Game Photography
Courtesy of On My Game Photography

After a nice start in its own tournament with a win on Thursday, the Irvine Valley men's basketball team ran into one of the top teams in the state on Friday.

Cerritos scored the first 11 points of the game and never looked back in an easy 76-50 victory over the Lasers in a semifinal of the Irvine Valley Classic.

Cerritos, ranked No. 17 in the state in the coaches' preseason poll, improved to 3-0 and moved into Saturday's championship game of the tournament against Long Beach City.

Irvine Valley's record slipped to 2-2 overall. The Lasers will take on Ventura in the third-place game on Saturday.

Saturday's schedule will begin at 11 a.m. with a consolation game between American River and Imperial Valley. Then, Cuyamaca takes on Canyons in the consolation final at 1 p.m.

Irvine Valley faces Ventura at 3 p.m. and Long Beach City and Cerritos will battle for the title of the event at 5 p.m. Long Beach City held off Ventura, 75-72, in the other semifinal earlier on Friday.

The Lasers had no answers for a tough and talented Cerritos team Friday night.

The Falcons led, 32-9, a basket by Andre Fields with 6:12 left in the first half. Cerritos didn't commit its first turnover in the contest until 6:45 in the opening half in a dominating performance.

Cerritos was up, 44-16, at the half and led by as many as 31 points in the second half in the win.

Irvine Valley shot 19 of 50 from the field (38.0 percent), 3 of 17 from three-point range (17.6 percent) and was just 9 of 17 at the free throw line (9 of 17).

The Lasers also committed 18 turnovers.

Cerritos shot 25 of 53 percent from the field (47.2 percent) and made 19 of 22 free throws.

The Falcons also had 19 assists on their 25 made baskets.

The Lasers did get 36 of their 56 points off the bench, led by sophomore guard Geoff Salas, who finished with 16 points. Freshman forward Christian Louis ended with seven points and sophomore forward David Georgiev had eight rebounds for IVC.

Cerritos was paced by 15 points from Chance Hunter, 12 points and four assists from Cody Wilkes and 10 points from Dezmon Murphy in the victory.