Irvine Valley's men's basketball team saw its record fall to 4-11 overall and 0-3 in the Orange Empire Conference after a 55-45 loss to Riverside Friday night at home.
The Lasers played right with Riverside for most of a grind it out match-up.
Irvine Valley trailed, 25-24, at the half, but led by as many as four points early in the second half.
A free throw by freshman guard Christian Griffin gave the Lasers a 29-25 lead with 15:08 left in the second half.
But the Lasers then went cold.
Riverside went on a 10-0 run over the next four minutes.
A three-point play by Julian Alvarez gave Riverside a 35-29 lead with 11:07 to play.
Irvine Valley was playing catch up the rest of the way.
The Lasers got within 36-34 on a three-pointer by sophomore forward Charlie Henderson with 8:53 to go.
But a dunk by Darius McClain and then two free throws by Reggie Ward gave Riverside a 45-37 lead with 6:56 to play.
IVC battled, but could only get as close as five points the rest of the way.
Griffin finished with 11 points for IVC. Henderson added 10 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Freshman guards Luke Farrington and Roman Swizek each added seven points for IVC.
Riverside was paced by Ward with 16 points, six rebounds, two blocks and three steals. And Tomi Adesiji chippped in nine points.
Irvine Valley plays again on Monday, hosting Santa Ana in a conference game at 3 p.m.
