Men's basketball team beats Cuyamaca again
Nov 21, 2008
The Irvine Valley men's basketball team handled Cuyamaca for the second time in less than a week.
IVC, which defeated the Coyotes by seven points last Saturday in the Irvine Valley College Classic, beat them again in a non-conference game Friday night at home, 59-44.
It was Irvine Valley's second straight win and third in its last four games to improve its record to 3-3 on the season.
"We are starting to figure some things out," Irvine Valley coach Jerry Hernandez said.
Irvine Valley played a strong second half to pull away for the win.
The Lasers led, 25-23, at halftime, but out-scored Cuyamaca, 34-21, in the final 20 minutes.
Irvine Valley held Cuyamaca to just 25.0 percent shooting from the field (6 of 24) in the second half and only 27.7 percent for the game.
Irvine Valley also out-rebounded Cuyamaca, 40-32, and had five blocks in the game.
"Defensively we played really well, probably the best we've played all year," Hernandez said.
Offensively, Irvine Valley was led by sophomore forward Jon Reed. The former Pepperdine player had a breakout game for the Lasers, scoring a season-high 18 points on 5 of 10 shooting from the field. He made 2 of 4 three-pointers and all six of his free throws.
A three-pointer by Reed with 11:13 left in the game gave IVC a 42-33 lead.
Cuyamaca (3-3) fought back and cut the Irvine Valley lead to 46-42 on two free throws by Tony Lor with 6:13 left in the game, but the Lasers out-scored the Coyotes, 13-2, the rest of the way.
Sophomore guard Jeff Ledbetter had a hand in several of the points. His assist on a basket by freshman forward Kwame Alexander with 4:35 left made it a 50-42 game.
Ledbetter then knocked down two free throws and later made a basket to put IVC ahead, 55-42 with 1:33 to play.
Alexander finished with 14 points, including two dunks on alley-oop plays, and 11 rebounds. He made 5 of 7 field goal attempts.
Sophomore center Matt Ballard added eight points and Ledbetter and sophomore forward Brandon Hucks each had seven points and seven rebounds.
Irvine Valley plays again next Tuesday, traveling to Southwestern for a non-conference game at 5 p.m.