The Irvine Valley men's basketball team finished its own tournament strong over the weekend, beating Cuyamaca, 56-49, in the third place game.

The Lasers won two of three games in the 14th Annual Irvine Valley Classic.

"I liked what I saw (on the final day)," IVC coach Jerry Hernandez said. "We did some things much better. And I thought Matt Ballard and Kwame Alexander both played really well."

Ballard is a 6-8 sophomore center from Trabuco Hills High who was at UC Irvine last year.

He finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Lasers in the win over Cuyamaca on Saturday and then was named to the all-tournament team.

Alexander, a freshman forward, and sophomore guard Jeff Ledbetter each added 11 points. Alexander also had nine rebounds and two blocks and Ledbetter finished with four assists and two blocks.

Sophomore forward Carlos Pinto contributed nine points and sophomore forward Jon Reed had seven points.

The Lasers shot 45.3 percent from the field (24 of 53) and held Cuyamaca to 37.0 percent (20 of 54).

One of the things Hernandez was most pleased with was that his team had just nine turnovers against Cuyamaca.

But it was a different story for IVC on Friday in their championship semifinal match-up with Long Beach City.

The Lasers committed a season-high 24 turnovers in a 61-48 loss to the Vikings, who ended up taking the tournament title. IVC had 10 more turnovers than field goals made in the game.

The team also shot just 34.1 percent from the field, made 3 of 13 three-pointers and was out-rebounded, 37-23. IVC had just four offensive rebounds in the game.

"We really struggled in a lot of different areas," Hernandez said.

Ballard and Ledbetter each had 11 points in the defeat.

The Lasers started the tournament on Thursday with a 55-52 come-from-behind win over Imperial Valley. It was Irvine Valley's first win of the season after two straight losses.

The Lasers trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half and were down, 50-45, with 6:15 to play.

But a 5-0 run capped by a three-pointer by Ledbetter tied the score with 2:30 to go.
Irvine Valley took its first lead since late in the first half when Ballard scored inside, was fouled and made the free throw. The three-point play gave IVC a 53-52 advantage with 1:37 to go.

Irvine Valley got stops on the defensive end the next two times down the floor and Imperial Valley was forced to foul with time running out. Pinto knocked down two free throws with 13.4 seconds left to put Irvine Valley ahead, 55-52.

Sophomore forward Brandon Hucks led the way with 17 points and Ballard had 11 points and six rebounds. Ledbetter chipped in 10 points and Reed had five points, four rebounds and three assists.

Irvine Valley (2-3) plays Cuyamaca again on Friday at home at 6 p.m. in a non-conference contest.

"We just have to keep working hard in practice and try to get better each day," Hernandez said.