Men's basketball team falls at Trade Tech
Mar 08, 2008
The Irvine Valley men's basketball team's season ended Saturday night with a tough 84-81 loss at Los Angeles Trade Tech in a Southern California Regional Playoff Final.
Trade Tech (27-4 overall) moved on to the state tournament next weekend in Stockton.
Irvine Valley finished its season one win short of state and with a record of 27-5 overall. The 27 wins was still a program record for most victories in a season.
"We wanted this one," said Laser Coach Jerry Hernandez, who was looking for his first trip to the state tournament with IVC. "We wanted to get there. It is frustrating because we were so close.
"But we got a tough seed and a tough draw and faced a very talented team in their gym. We couldn't get it done."
Trade Tech, which was the third seed in the Southern California Playoffs, will join No. 1 Citrus, No. 2 Fullerton and No. 11 Bakersfield, which was a 81-65 upset winner over No. 4 Ventura, at the state tourney.
Four teams also advance from Northern California
Citrus escaped with a 99-95 win in overtime over No. 8 Los Angeles City and Fullerton scored the final four points of the game to beat No. 10 Antelope Valley, 68-64.
Sixth-seeded Irvine Valley made its game with Trade Tech a close one at the end. The Lasers trailed, 44-33, at halftime and were down by as many as 15 points in the second half. It was a 62-47 game with 11:35 left after Trade Tech's Michael Davis hit a three-pointer.
Down, 64-50, IVC went on a 10-2 run, capped by a three-pointer by sophomore forward Blake Wallace, to pull within 66-60 with 6:39 to play.
James Lewis answered with a three-pointer to put the Beavers back in front, 69-60.
The Lasers kept chipping away, though. A lay-up by freshman point guard La'Shard Anderson and then a three-pointer by Wallace made it a 72-67 game with 2:20 to go.
IVC stayed within five points at 77-72 on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Jason Toney with 1:12 to go.
Another three-pointer by Toney with 59 seconds left pulled IVC to within 79-76 with 59 seconds left. It was the closest Irvine Valley had been since it was down 21-18 with 11:05 left in the first half.
After Trade Tech made two free throws and IVC sophomore wing Kashif Watson made one free throw to make it a 81-77 game with 29 seconds left, Trade Tech turned the ball over.
Anderson capitalized, hitting a three-pointer with 12 seconds left to pull IVC to within 81-80.
Irvine Valley was forced to foul. Joseph Morgan, who was 5 for 5 from the line on the night, sank both free throws to put the Beavers ahead, 83-80, with 10 seconds left.
The Lasers still had a chance to tie it. And Watson got a good look at the basket on a three-point attempt from the left side with five seconds left, but his shot was short.
Toney was fouled going after the offensive rebound with two seconds remaining. He made the first free throw to make it a two-point game (83-81). He missed the second on purpose, but Trade Tech's Robert Summers grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled with one second remaining.
Summers made one of two free throws for the final score.
Wallace led Irvine Valley with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Toney added 16 points on 6 of 7 shooting from the floor, including going 3 for 3 from behing the three-point line. Anderson finished with 16 points, four assists and five steals.
Sophomore center Bryce Webster added nine points and 12 rebounds.
"I thought Blake played his heart out and Jason played great," Hernandez said. "Bryce was solid and La'Shard did some really good things for us."
Watson had nine points, eight rebounds and four assists and freshmen guards Jeff Ledbetter and Franklin Session each contributed four points for Irvine Valley.
The Lasers shot 44.1 percent from the field (26 of 59), 46.7 percent on three-pointers (7 of 15) and 68.8 percent from the free throw line (22 of 32). IVC out-rebounded Trade Tech, 44-40.
Lewis led Trade Tech with 17 points. He made 5 of 10 three-pointers. Morgan tossed in 15 points, Summers finished with 14 points, Marquise Dubose added 10 points and four assists and Imari Thomas had a team-high 10 rebounds for the Beavers.
Trade Tech shot 44.4 percent for the game (32 of 72). But the Beavers were 48.7 percent from the floor in the first half (19 of 39) when they took the 11-point lead.
"We didn't execute offensively good enough in the first half and we just couldn't get enough stops throughout the game," Hernandez said. "They picked us apart at times. And we made some real critical turnovers at crucial parts of the game. Those were the things that really hurt us.
"It is too bad because I think if we could have gotten to state we really could have done some damage. It is disappointing."