Men's basketball team stays undefeated in conference
Jan 19, 2008
After playing in two straight close Orange Empire Conference games, the Irvine Valley men's basketball team was sure glad not to have one go down to the wire Friday night.
The Lasers, who were ranked third in the state, defeated Santa Ana, 92-73, on the road for their ninth consecutive victory.
The win improved Irvine Valley's record to 20-2 overall and 4-0 in conference. It continued the best start to a season in program history.
The Lasers held a 20-15 lead with just over 11 minutes left in the first half when they went on an 11-0 run to extend their lead to 31-20.
IVC then closed out the half outscoring Santa Ana, 12-6, in the final eight minutes for a 43-26 halftime lead.
The Lasers took their biggest lead in the first half (40-21) on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Jason Toney with 4:28 left.
Santa Ana cut the Irvine Valley lead to 45-36 in the second half. The Dons were within 10 points with just over 10 minutes remaining but could not get any closer as the Lasers pulled away for the 92-73 victory.
Irvine Valley led by as many as 22 points in the second half.
Freshman guard Jeff Ledbetter came off the bench to pace Irvine Valley with 19 points.
He made 7 of 10 from the field, including going 3 of 5 on his three-point attempts.
Sophomore center Bryce Webster finished with 16 points. He made 7 of 8 shots from the field.
Sophomore forward Blake Wallace added 14 points and nine rebounds and four assists.
He made 6 of his 9 shots from the field.
IVC shot 55.4 percent (36 of 65) for the game as a team, including going 18 of 30 from the floor (60 percent) in the second half.
And after struggling from the free throw line (just 9 of 22) in its one-point win at Riverside earlier in the week, Irvine Valley was a solid 83.3 percent (15 of 18) from the charity stripe on Friday night.
Irvine Valley made 10 of 11 free throws in the second half.
Freshman point guard La'Shard Anderson added 10 points and seven assists, sophomore wing Kashif Watson had nine points and four rebounds, freshman guard Franklin Session finished with nine points and freshman guard Perry Webster had five points, two assists and three steals for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley had 19 assists and just 12 turnovers in the game.
Tyre Thompson led Santa Ana in defeat with 27 points, making 5 of 9
three-point shots.
Santa Ana shot 25 of 62 for the game (40.3 percent).
Irvine Valley, which could move up in the state rankings because the two teams ahead of it lost this past week, plays at Cypress on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.