Men's basketball team hosts LA Valley on Saturday
Jan 03, 2008
The Irvine Valley men's basketball team plays its final game before the start of Orange Empire Conference action this Saturday.
The Lasers, ranked sixth in the state, host 18th ranked Los Angeles Valley College on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in non-conference action.
Irvine Valley improved its record to 15-2 on the season with a pair of wins on the road the last two weeks.
IVC, wish is also ranked fourth in Southern California, defeated Cuyamaca, 66-61, on Dec. 19 and Miramar, 85-68, on Dec. 29.
Sophomore wing Kashif Watson and sophomore guard Jason Toney led the way against Cuyamaca, scoring 18 points each. And sophomore center Jaron Devine chipped in with a season-high 10 points.
Against Miramar, Watson finished with 21 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three blocks, sophomore forward Blake Wallace had 19 points and nine rebounds and Toney added 13 points and seven assists in the win.
IVC finished with 23 assists and had just eight turnovers in the game.
Irvine Valley also shot 51.6 percent from the field, including 61.5 percent in the first half to jump out to a big lead.
On the season, Watson leads the team, averaging 14.4 points. He is also averaging 5.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists.
Wallace is averaging 12.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and shooting 58.4 percent from the field.
Sophomore center Bryce Webster, a transfer from the University of Minnesota, is IVC’s third player in double figures, averaging 11.5 points per game. He is also averaging 5.8 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and is shooting 59.3 percent from the field.
IVC is shooting 50.4 percent from the field as a team.
Others contributing for the Lasers include red-shirt freshman guard Jeff Ledbetter (9.4 points and shooting 42.3 percent on three-pointers), freshman point guard La’Shard Anderson (9.2 points, 2.8 assists and 2.6 steals), Toney (6.4 points) and freshman point guard Perry Webster (5.0 points and 3.0 assists).
LA Valley has a record of 11-4 heading into Saturday's action.
The team is coming off an 83-67 loss to Mt. San Jacinto,
which is ranked second in the state, in its last game. The Monarchs had
won four straight and eight of nine games before that.
LA Valley is led
by Germel Coleman, Shaun Johnson and Gino Riney. Coleman is averaging
18.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, Johnson is averaging 16.9
points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and is shooting 61.5 percent from the
field and Riney is averaging 15.2 points, 7.5 assists and 2.5 steals
per game.
IVC plays again next Wednesday, hosting Orange Coast at 5:30 p.m. in its Orange Empire Conference opener.