Irvine Valley's men's basketball team nearly came up with one of its biggest wins of the season.
The Lasers held the lead late, but Fullerton rallied for a 66-65 Orange Empire Conference win at Fullerton.
Irvine Valley's record slipped to 13-10 overall and 1-6 in the Orange Empire Conference.
Fullerton went to 18-5 overall and 6-1 in conference.
The first half seemed to be all Fullerton as the Hornets took a 12-4 lead through the first three minutes.
Irvine Valley used a 14-7 run that tied the game up at 21 at the 6:09 mark. And then the Lasers continued their run and led, 28-21, with three minutes left in the half.
Fullerton got within three points (34-31) by the end of the half.
The second half was a shootout as the two teams battled keeping within a few points of each other. IVC took over with a little more than seven minutes left.
The Lasers had it all going their way, taking their largest lead of the game at 64-54 with 4:42 left.
Momentum and time seemed to be on Irvine Valley's side, until Fullerton closed the gap with points by Julian Richardson (jumper and two free throws).
Ian Fox then drove the lane and scored and Kenny Barnes added a dunk for the Hornets.
Fox then stole the ball and scored on a layup.
Fox stole the ball again and flipped it to Kenny Barnes, who scored on a layup, giving the Hornets a 66-64 lead with 20 seconds left in regulation.
In all, Fullerton scored 12 unanswered points in a matter of four minutes to pull out the win.
Irvine Valley out-rebounded Fullerton, 34-24. The difference was at the line, where Fullerton went 15 of 21 and the Lasers were 8 of 12.
Freshman guard Isaiah Milan and sophomore forward Tanner Aguera each scored 10 points for the Lasers.
Freshman guard Zuri Williams and sophomore center Patrick Sniff each had nine points for IVC. Sniff added six rebounds.
Juliean Richardson had 14 points and five rebounds and Barnes contributed 12 points for Fullerton.
IVC has its homecoming night on Wednesday against Cypress. The women's game is at 5 p.m. with the men's game following at 7 p.m.
