The Irvine Valley men's basketball team trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half in its Orange Empire Conference game against Santiago Canyon at home on Thursday night.
And the Lasers were down, 51-37, at the half after Santiago Canyon shot 74.1 percent (20 of 27) from the field and 58.3 percent (7 of 12) from three-point range as a team.
Irvine Valley shored up its defense in the second half and pulled within five points several times late before coming up short to the Hawks, 80-73.
IVC ended up shooting a solid 52.6 percent (30 of 57) as a team in the game and matched Santiago Canyon in three-pointers made with nine.
One of the big differences in the final score was Santiago Canyon making 15 of 21 free throws and Irvine Valley going 4 of 6 at the line.
Santiago Canyon picked up its 20th win of the year and improved its record to 20-6 overall and 11-3 in conference. IVC went to 16-10 overall and 7-7 in conference play.
Sophomore post player Jesse Stines led Irvine Valley with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore guard Luke Farrington added 16 points and made four three-pointers and freshman forward Josiah Reed had 10 points for the Lasers.
Santiago Canyon was paced by Kai Smith with 20 points and six rebounds. He also made four three-pointers.
Eli Arthurton added 14 points and four assists and Damien Parker, Chico Lopez and Trevor Manning each added 12 points. Parker also had seven rebounds and four assists.
Irvine Valley plays again next Wednesday, traveling to Golden West for a 5 p.m. conference contest.
