Irvine Valley's men's basketball team led early on in its Orange Empire Conference opening game against Orange Coast on Tuesday night at home.
But the Pirates took the lead six minutes into the first half and never looked back in defeating the Lasers, 73-66.
Irvine Valley's record went to 8-4 overall and 0-1 in conference, while OCC improved to 7-4 overall and 1-0 in conference.
IVC jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a jumper by sophomore guard David Ogunlade and a basket inside by sophomore guard Roman Swizek.
And the Lasers took a 7-2 advantage with 18:03 left in the first half on a three-pointer by sophomore post player Jesse Stines off of an assist by Ogunlade.
A jumper by Swizek kept IVC up by five points at 9-4.
But Orange Coast scored the next 10 points, capped by a jumper by Sam Hunter, to give the Pirates a 14-9 lead.
OCC continued to increase their lead in the first half. The Pirates took a 30-18 lead on a jumper by Hunter and then a free throw by Hunter with 5:28 left in the first half.
Coast built its lead to 37-22 with 1:58 remaining in the half.
The Lasers scored the final seven points.
Orange Coast still led, 37-29, at the break.
The Pirates shot 58.3 percent (14 of 24) in the first half and 54.5 percent 6 of 11) from three-point range in the half.
Irvine Valley tried to get back into the game early in the second half, pulling within 39-34 on a pair of Stines free throws, and then later at 69-64 on a three-pointer by freshman guard Ammon Allan
But the Lasers didn't get any closer.
Sophomore guard Luke Farrington and Swizek each led the Lasers with 14 points, while Allan had 11 points and Stines finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Hunter finished with 20 points and five assists and Isaac Padilla had 13 points and four rebounds for Orange Coast.
Irvine Valley plays again on Thursday, traveling to Cuyamaca for a non-conference contest.
