The Irvine Valley men's basketball team wrapped up its opening weekend of the season with a win in the third-place game of the Don Gehler Memorial Tournament at Miramar College in San Diego on Saturday.
The Lasers used a big second half to defeat MiraCosta, 66-54, for third place.
IVC, which went 2-1 in the tournament, used a 40-point second half to earn the victory.
Sophomore forward Parker Sims was the star for the Lasers. He scored a career-high 17 points to go along with 10 rebounds. It was his first double-double for IVC.
Sims played a team-high 37 minutes in the game. He also added five assists and one block.
Sophomore guard Daniel Hernandez chipped in 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals, sophomore forward Zane Paddon had 13 points and seven rebounds and freshman forward Jake Linsky contributed seven points, 13 rebounds and two blocks for IVC.
Freshman forward Omeed Kargozan had six points and freshman guard Kevin Olsen added four points off the bench for Irvine Valley.
The Lasers trailed, 28-26, at the half, but out-scored MiraCosta, 40-26, in the second half. IVC out-rebounded MiraCosta, 24-13, in the final 20 minutes and limited MiraCosta to just 30 percent (9 of30 ) shooting from the field.
Irvine Valley nearly made the title game, but fell to host Miramar, 84-81, in the semifinals on Friday.
Four players scored in double figures for the Lasers.
Freshman guard Isaiah Mahmud came off the bench with 16 points, five rebounds and two assists. Freshman guard Geoff Salas finished with 15 points, four rebounds and three steals.
Hernandez had 12 points, four rebounds and four assists and Linsky ended with 10 points, 11 rebounds and three assists. Sims and freshman forward Cameron Griffin each added nine points. Griffin also had eight rebounds.
IVC had several chances to tie the game in the second half, but couldn't convert.
Miramar led by as many as nine points in the second half, before Irvine Valley cut it to 72-69 on a jumper by Madmud with 3:28 to play.
Miramar got the lead back to seven points at 76-69. Hernandez was able to pull IVC within 78-76 after two free throws with 27 seconds left.
But Miramar made six straight free throws down the stretch to hold on.
Irvine Valley plays again this Friday. The Lasers have their first home game, hosting Southwestern at 5:30 p.m.
