Irvine Valley's men's basketball team played Saddleback tight throughout Friday night's Orange Empire Conference battle at Irvine Valley.
But the Lasers could never get enough going offensively against a tough Gaucho squad.
Saddleback, ranked No. 4 in the state and second in Southern California, remained in first place in the conference with 58-49 victory over the Lasers.
Saddleback improved its record to 25-2 overall and 8-1 in conference.
Irvine Valley fell to 12-11 overall and 5-3 in conference.
The Lasers are now in a tie for second place with Santa Ana.
Irvine Valley, ranked No. 14 in Southern California, shot 36 percent (18 of 50) from the field on Friday night. The Lasers also made just 2 of 11 three-pointers.
Saddleback shot 44.4 percent (20 of 45) from the field.
Irvine Valley led just once in the game and that came in the opening two minutes of the contest.
Saddleback took its largest lead at 23-9 on a basket by Jalen Hall with 6:40 left in the first half.
IVC got its deficit down to eight points (31-23) at halftime.
The Lasers chipped away in the second half and got within 49-45 on two free throws by Ronnie Harris with 1:39 left.
But Saddleback beat IVC's press and Conor Clifford ended up with a dunk to push Saddleback's lead to 51-45 with 1:36 to go.
Two free throws by Dusty Baker with 1:09 to play gave Saddleback a 53-45 advantage.
Irvine Valley didn't get closer than six points the rest of the way.
Sophomore center Andrew Bastien led Irvine Valley with 10 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
Freshman forward Craig Magyar and sophomore guard Chris Salas each finished with seven points for IVC.
Saddleback was paced by Clifford's 14 points. Baker and Andrew Bournes each added 13 points with Baker also having five assists.
Irvine Valley plays again next Tuesday at Riverside at 5 p.m.
