Irvine Valley's men's basketball team picked up one more win before the start of Orange Empire Conference play.
The Lasers defeated Los Angeles Valley, 79-57, Saturday night at home and improved their record to 15-1.
The 15-1 mark ties the best start in program history through 16 games. The 2009-10 team that made the state tournament also began 15-1.
Things are expected to get a lot tougher for the Lasers, who are ranked No. 1 in the state, in the upcoming weeks, however.
"The work ethic and commitment of this team is high," 19th-year coach Jerry Hernandez said. "But we reminded them that conference is a different animal from what they've seen so far. Teams have a new life in conference and I think our conference is the best coached conference in the state. We have to be prepared to come and compete every day."
Irvine Valley was ready Saturday night.
The Lasers broke open the game early against LA Valley, which dropped to 0-11 with the loss.
IVC scored the first six points of the contest, getting an offensive rebounds and put-back by sophomore center Declan Daly, a layup by sophomore guard Shaquille Hunter and a basket by freshman forward Chris Porter off an assist from freshman point guard Jalen Hall.
The Monarchs came back with the next five points in a row. A three-pointer by Travon White made it a 6-5 game with 14:23 left in the first half.
But it was all Lasers after that.
IVC went on a 14-0 run to take complete control.
Freshman center Andrew Bastien and freshman guard Chris Salas came off the bench to spark the run. Bastien scored three straight baskets inside and then Salas hit consecutive three-pointers from the right side to put IVC up, 18-5, with 11:20 left in the first half.
A layup by Porter and then a three-pointer by sophomore forward Sean Witzcak made it 23-5.
A three-pointer by Hunter and then a free throw by Daly gave Irvine Valley its largest lead of the half at 30-7 with 6:09 left in the half.
LA Valley didn't hit double digits until Andrew Estes made a jumper to make it 30-11 with 5:26 left.
The Lasers took a 39-20 lead into halftime.
Irvine Valley shot 46.7 percent (14-30) from the field in the first half, including 42.9 percent (6 of 14) from three-point range.
The Lasers led by as many as 26 points in the second half before winning by 22 points.
For the game, IVC shot 51.8 percent (29 of 56) from the field and 40.0 percent (10 of 25) from three-point range.
Hunter led the way with 19 points. Porter added 13 points.
But IVC had six plays with at least seven points overall. Salas and Bastien each finished with nine points. Bastien also had seven rebounds.
Freshman guard Ronnie Harris contributed eight points and seven assists and Daly chipped in seven points, nine rebounds and five steals.
"What I am most pleased with right now is our depth and unity," Hernandez said. "The guys are really progressing. Even the ones that maybe don't play a lot in games are getting better and making us better as a team. It is going to take our whole team of 15 guys for us to continue to be successful."
LA Valley was paced by Travon White with 16 points and Taturs Maberry with 15 points. The Monarchs shot 47.7 percent from the field in the game, but were undone by committing 25 turnovers and being out-rebounded 34-26.
Irvine Valley plays again on Jan. 8 when it opens conference against Cypress at home at 5:30 p.m.
