The Irvine Valley men's basketball team staged a stunnning comeback to capture the 27th Annual Irvine Valley College Classic presented by Fast Action Basketball Saturday night in Hart Gym.
The Lasers trailed, 32-20, at the half and were down by as many 17 points in the second half, but rallied for a 68-66 victory behind tourney most valuable player David Ogunlade and all-tournament players Luke Farrington and Roman Swizek.
Irvine Valley fell behind, 59-42, with 6:28 left in the game after two free throws by the Falcons' Everett May.
And Cerritos was ahead, 65-48, with 3:53 remaining in the game after a pair of free throws by Taeo Thomas.
But the Lasers found a way. IVC out-scored Cerritos, 20-1, down the stretch.
Cerritos still led, 66-57, with 1:34 left, but Irvine Valley got a three-point play from sophomore guard Ogunlade to cut the lead to 66-60.
A layup by sophomore forward Jesse Stines pulled IVC within 66-62 with 1:01 to play.
After a missed three-pointer and then two missed free throws by the Falcons, Farrington, a sophomore wing, sank a three-pointer off of an assist from freshman guard Ammon Allan to make it a 66-65 game with 40 seconds left.
Cerritos missed a jumper the next time down and Ogunlade was fouled on the other end with nine seconds left.
He calmly stepped to the line and made both free throws to give Irvine Valley a 67-66 advantage.
Swizek then came up with a steal on the other end as Cerritos tried to win the game.
He was fouled and made one free throw to close the contest for Irvine Valley.
Irvine Valley, incredibly scored the final 11 points of the game.
Ogunlade, IVC's sophomore point guard, finished with 17 points, Farrington had 16 points and Swizek, a sophomore guard, ended with 12 points.
Freshman wing Josiah Reed also chipped in nine points, five rebounds and three assists for the Lasers.
Cerritos was paced by Cameron McCoy with 11 points and Blake Brewer and Mike Ceballos with 10 points apiece. Both Brewer and Ceballos were named to the all-tournament team.
Irvine Valley plays again Wednesday night, hosting San Diego Miramar at 7 p.m.
27th Annual Irvine Valley Classic All-Tournament Team
MVP - David Ogunlade (Irvine Valley)
All-Tournament Players
Luke Farrington (Irvine Valley)
Roman Swizek (Irvine Valley)
Blake Brewer (Cerritos)
Mike Ceballos (Cerritos)
Caleb Geisendorfer (Ventura)
