The Irvine Valley men's basketball team dropped its opening game in the Monterey Peninsula Tournament on Thursday to Yuba, 79-66.

Yuba was ranked No. 1 in the state two weeks ago.

Sophomore guard Ramon Mejia led IVC with 18 points. Sophomore point guard Kalob Hatcher contributed 12 points and four assists and sophomore forward Chris Taylor and freshman center Kirill Sergeyev each finished with nine points.

Irvine Valley's record slipped to 5-2 on the season.

The Lasers fell into the consolation bracket of the tourney and play Hartnell on Friday.

IVC had won the Monterey tournament the last two years.