The Irvine Valley men's basketball team was in one of the marquee match-ups of Friday night in community college action.
The Lasers, ranked No. 29 in the state, went on the road and faced No. 22 Mt. San Antonio.
IVC had two losses on the year so far with Mt. SAC having one defeat.
Irvine Valley stayed right with Mt. SAC until the final minutes, tied the game and took a lead in the second half before falling, 78-68.
Mt. SAC led the Lasers just, 31-30, at the half, but the Mounties out-scored Irvine Valley, 47-38, in the second half.
IVC sophomore guard David Ogunlade's layup with 8:11 left to play gave Irvine Valley a 51-49 advantage.
And two more free throws by sophomore forward Jesse Stines put the Lasers ahead, 60-58, with 6:04 to play.
Mt. SAC ended up out-scoring Irvine Valley, 19-7, over the final six minutes of the contest.
There were 11 ties and 12 lead changes in the game.
The two teams shot a combined 57 free throws, with Mt. SAC going to the line 38 times.
Irvine Valley's record went to 6-3 overall, while Mt. SAC improved to 8-1 overall.
Ogunlade and Stines each scored 15 points for the Lasers.
Ogunlade also had four rebounds, two assists and four steals. Sophomore guard Roman Swizek added 10 points and sophomore guard Luke Farrington had nine points for IVC.
Mt. SAC was led by Nick Hopkins with 26 points and eight rebounds.
The Lasers play again next Friday, hosting LA Valley at 5 p.m. in a nonconference game.
