Irvine Valley's men's basketball team has been close time and time again in Orange Empire Conference action this season.
But the Lasers dropped an overtime game at Saddleback and played right with the likes of Riverside, Cypress, Orange Coast and Santa Ana for stretches in tough losses.
Irvine Valley moved into the conference win column on Tuesday at home, downing Golden West, 73-67.
The Lasers (5-22, 1-14) snapped a 15-game losing streak with the victory. Golden West's record fell to 3-23 overall and 1-14 in conference.
Irvine Valley received 21 points eight rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes from sophomore post player Charlie Henderson in the win.
Freshman guard Luke Farrington added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists and freshman wing player Marcus Carter contributed 11 points.
Freshman forward Jordan Montrose also had nine points for IVC.
The Lasers shined on the offensive end, shooting a season-best 56.9 percent (29 of 51) as a team. The Lasers also made 9 of 19 three-pointers and dished out 18 assists.
Irvine Valley led, 43-32, at the half.
Golden West out-scored the Lasers, 35-30, in the second half, but the Lasers made a few clutch baskets down the stretch to pull out the win.
A key bucket came from freshman guard Nathan Mouzong on a three-pointer that pushed IVC's lead to 70-60 with 1:27 to play.
Golden West was led by Daniel Yardley, who ended with 28 points and seven rebounds. He had 16 points in the first half alone.
Alex Ball added 12 points for the Rustlers.
Irvine Valley ends the regular season on Thursday, hosting Cypress and former IVC associate head coach Andrew Alhadeff at 6 p.m.
Alhadeff and his Charger squad are battling for second place in the conference standings.
