Irvine Valley's men's basketball team defeated Saddleback for the second time this season, beating the Gauchos, 56-42, Friday night in a key Orange Empire Conference game at IVC.
The win kept Irvine Valley alive in the race for the conference title.
The Lasers, ranked No. 17 in the state, improved their record to 22-3 overall and 7-2 in conference. Saddleback, ranked sixth in the state, saw its record slip to 20-5 overall and 6-2 in conference.
Irvine Valley now trails conference-leading Santa Ana by a half game.
The Lasers host Santa Ana next Tuesday.
IVC moved a half game in front of Saddleback for second place.
The difference on Friday night was Irvine Valley's strong second half.
The Lasers trailed Saddleback, 26-22, at halftime, but out-scored the Gauchos, 34-16, in the final 20 minutes.
Irvine Valley scored the first five points of the second half to take a 27-26 advantage. It was the team's first lead since midway through the first half.
Sophomore Shaquille Hunter hit a three-pointer and then made a layup to put IVC in front.
It was back and forth for a while after that.
Saddleback came back and went ahead, 34-31, on two free throws by De'Corrius Sampson-Young with 12:18 to play.
Irvine Valley sophomore guard Dathon Spencer drilled a three-pointer from the left wing to tie it up at 34-34 with 11:50 left.
And freshman forward Chris Porter sank a three-pointer the next time down for Irvine Valley in almost the same spot as Spencer's to give the Lasers a 37-34 advantage with 10:47 to go.
Saddleback answered with back-to-back layups by Dayton Boddie and Sampson-Young to take a 38-37 lead with 9:05 to play.
A layup by Hunter and then a basket by sophomore forward Yanick Kulich put IVC up, 41-38, with 7:09 left.
Saddleback scored the next time down on a dunk by Eric Thompson to make it 41-40 with 6:30 left. But Thompson was assessed a technical foul right after the dunk.
Hunter made both free throws and then sophomore center Declan Daly scored inside to give Irvine Valley a 45-40 lead with 6:15 to play.
It was the start of what turned out to be a 15-2 run for Irvine Valley to end the game.
After Thompson's dunk, Saddleback didn't score again until there were 33 seconds left (a nearly six minute drought).
Daly grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to put the Lasers ahead, 47-40, with 4:44 to play.
A jumper by Daly, two free throws by freshman guard Jalen Hall, two free throws by Hunter after two technical were called on Saddleback and then two free throws by Spencer gave IVC a 55-40 advantage with 1:44 to play.
Daly finished off Irvine Valley's 15-0 spurt with a free throw.
Dalante Dunklin broke Saddleback's scoring drought with a layup with 33 seconds left.
Irvine Valley was paced by Hunter with 15 points. Daly finished with 12 points and Porter had a solid night with six points, nine rebounds and four assists.
The Lasers shot 44.2 percent (19 of 43) for the game. They also made 6 of 15 three-pointers. Saddleback was just 1 of 7 from three-point range.
Saddleback shot just 33.3 percent (14 of 42) from the field for the game. The Gauchos got 10 points from Dayton Boddie and nine points from DJ Feitl in the loss.
Irvine Valley turns around and plays Santa Ana on Homecoming Night Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
