The Irvine Valley men's basketball team opened the Orange Empire Conference Tournament with a 67-59 loss to Santa Ana at home on Wednesday night.
The Lasers were close, but playing catch-up most of the contest.
Irvine Valley's record slipped to 15-13 overall and 7-8 in conference.
Santa Ana went to 17-11 overall and 7-8 in conference.
IVC was the No. 4 seed in the tournament.
The Lasers now host No. 8 Orange Coast, which fell to top-seeded Fullerton.
That game will be next Wednesday at IVC at 6 p.m.
Santa Ana moves on to play at Fullerton.
Irvine Valley led, 11-10, with 13:45 left in the first half after two free throws by freshman post player Matt Mowers.
And IVC tied the game at 31 on a three-pointer by freshman point guard Allen Moser early in the second half.
Irvine Valley hung within two points for a large part of the second half.
But then Santa Ana pulled away and led by as many as 10 points late on two free throws by Jaitice Hayes in the final minute before winning by eight.
Moser and Mowers led IVC.
And the Lasers tied the game at 31 in the second half on a three-pointer by
Moser finished with 16 points and three steals and Mowers had 15 points and a season-high 17 rebounds in 36 minutes.
Sophomore forward Josiah Reed ended wth 10 points and three rebounds.
Santa Ana had six players with at least eight points and was paced by Cameron Swist with 13 points and three assists.
Mac West and Ja'Von Maxwell each added 10 points for the Dons.
Santa Ana led in a couple of key stat categories.
The Dons out-scored Irvine Valley in points off of the bench, 26-7, and out-scored the Lasers on points off of turnovers, 18-10.
