Irvine Valley's men's basketball season came to a tough close on Tuesday night at home.
The Lasers, seeded 13th, fell to No. 20 Long Beach City, 78-69, in the opening round of the CCCAA So. Cal regional playoffs.
Long Beach City (18-11) moves on to face No. 4 San Diego City on the road Thursday.
Irvine Valley finishes its season with a record of 18-11 overall.
The Lasers, even without their leading scorer and rebounder Luc Krystkowiak, were in the game throughout.
They just couldn't stop Long Beach City most of the night, and especially down the stretch.
The Vikings ended up shooting 55.8 percent (24 of 43) from the field as a team.
They also shot 44.4 percent (8 of 18) from three-point range and made 22 free throws.
Irvine Valley was within one point at the half (39-38), but a dunk by sophomore guard JT Robinson on the opening possesion gave the Lasers the lead.
And they took their largest advantage at 44-41 on a layup by sophomore forward Josh Walker off an assist from freshman point guard Brian Mendoza.
The Lasers were still up by three points (49-46) after a layup by Robinson with 15:09 to play.
But Long Beach City scored seven of the next eight points and went up, 53-49, on a three-pointer by Khieem Williams with 12:26 left.
IVC battled back to take another lead at 55-54 on a layup by Robinson with 10:02 remaining.
The Vikings responded with two free throws by Williams to take the lead for good at 56-55.
The Lasers got back within a point (61-60) after two free throws by sophomore guard Aaron Strings with 7:09 left.
But Irvine Valley would be stuck on 60 for the next six and a half minutes and Long Beach City was able to pull away.
The Vikings pushed their lead to double digits (72-62) on two free throws by Williams with 1:53 to go and held on from there.
Both IVC and Long Beach City saw players go off.
Robinson had a game-high 32 points for the Lasers. He was 11 of 20 from the field, 3 of 6 from the three-point line and was 7 of 10 from the free throw line. He added five rebounds.
Strings added 11 points and ethree assists and freshman guard Matt DeAngelo had nine points for IVC.
The Vikings were paced by Bonard Johnson Jr. with 30 points. He was an outstanding 10 of 11 from the field and made all five of his three-point attempts. He also had five rebounds and three assists.
Williams ended with 14 points, Lorenzo Marsh had 13 points, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals and Shane Hunter contributed 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists for Long Beach City.
