A bad first half doomed the Irvine Valley men's basketball team for the second time in conference play.
The Lasers were out-scored by 11 points in the opening half and went on to lose at Riverside, 66-55, in an Orange Empire Conference game Friday night.
Irvine Valley, ranked ninth in the state, saw its record fall to 19-3 overall and 4-2 in conference.
Riverside improved to 9-13 overall and 3-2 in conference.
Riverside led, 35-24, at halftime, thanks to 54.2 percent field goal shooting (13 of 24), compared to Irvine Valley's 31.0 field goal percent (9 of 29).
Both teams shot a little better from the floor in the second half with Riverside at 55.6 percent (10 of 18) and IVC at 36.0 percent (9 of 25).
Also included in the Lasers' field goal shooting was a 3 for 16 (18.8 percent) showing on three pointers.
Anthony Rounds poured in a team-high 16 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds for Riverside.
Robert James came off the bench to toss in 16 points.
For Irvine Valley, sophomore guard Shaquille Hunter tossed in a game-high 17 points and sophomore center Declan Daly added 15 points.
Irvine Valley finished with just eight assists in the contest and was out-rebounded, 33-24. No player had more than four rebounds in the contest for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley gets a bye from conference play on Wednesday to regroup and then will open up the second round of conference on Friday at Cypress at 7:30 p.m.
Irvine Valley heads into this week in third place in the conference standings with Saddleback and Santa Ana tied for first at 4-1.
