Irvine Valley's men's basketball team won its second straight game and opened its own 24th annual tournament with a 74-64 victory over Imperial Valley Thursday night.
With the win, the Lasers moved on to Friday's semifinal of the Irvine Valley Classic and will take on Cerritos at 7 p.m.
Irvine Valley got a strong game from sophomore guard Isaiah Mahmud off the bench in the win.
He finished with 21 points on 7 of 16 shooting from the floor and 5 of 6 from the free throw line. Mahmud added two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Sophomore forward David Georgiev added 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists and freshman forwards Christian Louis and Sadiq Muhammad each chipped in seven points in the triumph for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley shot 47.2 percent (25 of 53) from the field and had 20 assists on its 25 made baskets. Sophomore guard Kevin Olsen had a team-high assists to go along with five points in a team-best 32 minutes.
Imperial Valley was paced by Alvin Martin, who finished with 16 points, Martin Mendez, who had 12 points, connecting on 4 of 6 three-pointers, and Brenden Brocious, who added 11 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Irvine Valley scored the first six points of the game and never looked back.
The Lasers went up 20-7 after a three-pointer by sophomore guard Geoff Salas and then a basket by Muhammad with 11:57 to play in the first half.
And they closed on an 8-0 run over the final 2:17 of the first half.
Freshman forward Vic Ghadi made a layup off a pass from Olsen as the buzzer for the half sounded to give IVC a 43-30 lead.
Imperial Valley fought back to get within 57-53 with 10:03 left in the game on a layup by Abraham Atondo.
But the Lasers went on a 8-1 run, capped by two free throws by Olsen to take control for good at 65-54 with 5:46 left.
A Mahmud layup with under a minute left put IVC ahead, 72-64, and sealed the win.
Other winners on Thursday in opening round games, included Ventura defeating Cuyamaca, 69-58, Long Beach City beating American River, 90-79, and Cerritos taking down Canyons, 93-74.
The full schedule for Friday's match-ups is listed below.
Friday, Nov. 16 Schedule
Cuyamaca vs. American River at 1 p.m. - consolation
Imperial Valley vs. Canyons at 3 p.m. - consolation
Ventura vs. Long Beach City at 5 p.m. - semifinal
Cerritos vs. Irvine Valley at 7 p.m. - semifinal
