Irvine Valley's men's basketball team used a strong first half to beat Santa Ana, 76-66, at home Wednesday night for its first win in Orange Empire Conference play.
IVC improved its record to 13-9 overall and 1-5 in conference, while Santa Ana's record slipped to 4-16 overall and 0-6 in conference.
The Lasers jumped out to a 42-32 lead after the first 20 minutes and then held on as Santa Ana made a run in the second half.
Irvine Valley shot 56.7 percent (17 of 30) from the field in the opening half, including making 6 of 12 three-pointers.
Freshman guard Chris Lott, who finished with a game-high 21 points, had 14 in the first half to pace the Lasers.
But Santa Ana rallied in the second half. The Dons got within 48-47 after a layup by Chris Thompson with 13:40 to play and then Santa Ana took a 49-48 lead on a jumper by De'Jon Frazer.
IVC took the lead right back at 50-49 on a jumper by sophomore forward Tanner Aguera with 12:41 left and the Lasers never trailed again.
Freshman forward Zach Harvey followed with a layup and then Lott made a three-pointer with 10:55 to go to give IVC a 55-49 lead.
A three-pointer by Aguera lifted Irvine Valley's advantage to 58-49 with 8:55 to play.
Santa Ana still hung around, using three-pointers by Roger Hamel and Thompson to get within 60-57 with 7:27 to play.
The Dons were within 67-63, but Irvine Valley sophomore forward Jacob Dean knocked down a three-pointer to make it a seven-point game with 3:00 left.
Dean and Lott then made layups to put the game away. Lott's basket with 2:03 to go made it 74-63.
Lott was 8 of 15 from the field and 4 of 8 on three-pointers for IVC. He added eight rebounds in the game.
Dean finished with 13 points and six rebounds, freshman guard Isaiah Milan had 10 points and seven assists, Aguera chipped in eight points and Harvey had a game-high 11 rebounds for the Lasers.
IVC shot 46.0 percent (29 of 63) for the game and made 10 of 22 three-pointers.
The Lasers also out-rebounded Santa Ana, 44-35, and had 17 assists.
Santa Ana was paced by Thompson, who finished with 19 points. Hamel had 15 points and four rebounds, Wellington added 12 points and nine assists and Frazier finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the defeat.
The Dons shot 36.5 percent (23 of 63) from the field in the contest.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday at Fullerton at 7 p.m. The game starts the second round of conference action.
