Men's basketball team moves into classic title game

Men's basketball team moves into classic title game

Irvine Valley's men's basketball team moved into the championship game of its own tournament for the first time since 2009 with an impressive win over Long Beach City Friday night at IVC.

Irvine Valley will face Cerritos, which was ranked No. 2 in Southern California to start the season, at 4 p.m. in Saturday's championship game at 4 p.m.

The last time the Lasers won the Irvine Valley Classic was in 2009 when Max Carrier, Travis Fulton and Joe Eberhard led IVC to a win over Santa Monica.

Irvine Valley moved on to the title game this year by beating Long Beach City, 82-68, in the semifinals on Friday.

The Lasers were in control from the start. They jumped out to a 12-3 lead on back-to-back layups by sophomore guards Shaquille Hunter and Dathon Spencer with 14:08 left in the first half.

It was a 17-5 lead after freshman wing Jimmy Golden made a three-pointer.

The Lasers led by double figures the rest of the game after that.

IVC took its biggest lead of the first half at 50-30 with 1:50 left on two free throws by Spencer.

The Lasers led, 50-30, at the half.

Irvine Valley shot 62.1 percent from the field (18 of 29) in the opening half, including 44.4 percent (4 of 9) from three-point range.

The Lasers took their largest lead of the game, 71-45, with 11:04 to play on a basket by sophomore forward Yanick Kulich.

IVC ended up shooting 50.9 percent (29 of 57) for the game. Long Beach City shot just 32.8 percent (20 of 61).

The Lasers also out-rebounded the Vikings, 42-32.

And Irvine Valley had 17 assists on its 29 baskets.

Hunter led the way for the second straight game with 19 points. He added eight rebounds. Golden finished with 13 points, sophomore center Declan Daly contributed nine points and eight rebounds and sophomore forward Austin Priest and freshman guard Ronnie Harris each ended with eight points.

Long Beach City was paced by Brandon Staton and Elijah Gaines, who each had 18 points. Staton also had eight rebounds and five assists.

Irvine Valley will play a Cerritos team in the final that looked unstoppable against Cuyamaca in the other semifinal.

Cerritos came away with a 87-50 victory.

Cerritos led Cuyamaca, 44-20, at halftime.

The Falcons had 11 players score in the game, led by freshman guard Anthony January, who finished with 21 points. He added four rebounds and three steals. Victor Jones chipped in 16 points and three steals and Usama Zaid had 12 pionts and three assists.

Cerritos shot 53.4 percent (31 of 58) for the game and had 21 steals. The Falcons helped force 28 Cuyamaca turnovers. Cuyamaca also shot just 36.2 percent (17 of 47) from the field.

The Coyotes got nine points from Garrett Larch-Miller in the loss.

Cuyamaca will play Long Beach City in the third-place game at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

The consolation championship will pit Santa Monica against Imperial Valley at 12 p.m.

Santa Monica defeated Canyons, 79-73, in a consolation game on Friday behind 30 points from Keilan Horton.

And Imperial Valley hung on to defeat defending champion Ventura, 67-66. Four players scored in double figures for Imperial Valley, led by Melvin Cook with 17 points.​

Nov. 22 Second Day Results

Santa Monica def. Canyons, 79-73

Imperial Valley def. Ventura, 67-66

Cerritos def. Cuyamaca, 87-50

Irvine Valley def. Long Beach City, 82-68

Nov. 23 Final Day Schedule

Consolation Final - Santa Monica vs. Imperial Valley at 12 p.m.

Third-Place Game - Cuyamaca vs. Long Beach City at 2 p.m.

Championship - Cerritos vs. Irvine Valley at 4 p.m.

Irvine Valley College provides this web space for the use of its faculty, staff and other representatives of the college for the purpose of furthering the educational goals of the institution and enhancing the academic experience of its students. This is the official web site of Irvine Valley College Athletics. The data, statistics, photos, rosters and schedules used on this web site were gathered by the IVC Sports Information Office. Other web sites containing information about Irvine Valley College Athletics not within the official college web site may not be accurate. Questions or comments about this web site can be directed to bshaver@ivc.edu

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