The Irvine Valley men's basketball team had its chances to move on to the championship game of the Monterey Bay Classic for the second straight season on Friday night.
But the Lasers, who won the title last season, couldn't find a way in the final minutes and fell, 71-68, to host Monterey Peninsula.
IVC's record went to 3-5 overall. Irvine Valley will take on Diablo Valley in the third-place contest on Friday at 3 p.m.
Monterey Peninsula improved to 6-4 overall and will play IVC Orange Empire Conference rival, Cypress, in the final at 5 p.m.
Irvine Valley trailed, 34-27, at the half and was down by as many as 10 points (37-27) early in the second half. But the Lasers went on a 9-0 run to pull within a point and then took a 43-42 lead with 13:54 to play on a jumper by freshman guard Luke Farrington.
They went ahead again, 47-46, on a layup by sophomore post player Charlie Henderson off an assist from freshman wing Makai Caruth.
It was back and forth from there. The Lasers trailed, 58-56, with 4:45 to go, and the game was tied at 65 with 3:04 left after a layup by freshman forward Ethan McCanless.
The Lasers went ahead with 2:08 to play on a basket by Henderson off an assist from Farrington.
But Irvine Valley didn't score the rest of the way. MPC was ahead, 71-68, with 8.4 seconds left and had one more opportunity to keep the game going. Freshman guard Christian Griffin's off-balance three-point attempt at the buzzer was off the mark.
Turnovers (17) and missed free throws (seven) hurt the Lasers. Monterey Peninsula also shot 50 percent from the field (30 of 60) in the game.
Henderson finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks to pace IVC. McCanless added 12 points and six rebounds and Griffin had 12 points for Irvine Valley.
