The Irvine Valley men's basketball team showed no rust Tuesday night.

The Lasers, who hadn't played a game in 10 days, beat El Camino, 79-63, in a non-conference contest at home.

"We needed a solid performance like this to get prepared for conference play," said Coach Jerry Hernandez.

Irvine Valley (10-8) put the game out of reach with a strong end to the first half.

Up, 29-25, the Lasers closed out the final four minutes of the half on a 12-4 run.

Freshman point guard Travis Ballard had five of the points, making a three-pointer and then converting a lay-up. A basket by sophomore center Matt Ballard gave IVC a 41-27 lead.

The Lasers were ahead, 41-29 at halftime.

"I thought we were a little bigger and stronger so we wanted to establish our presence in the paint early and then play inside out," Hernandez said.

Irvine Valley led by as many as 20 points in the second half and won going away.

The Lasers shot 48.5 percent from the field (32 of 66) in the contest and out-rebounded El Camino, 47-41. IVC also only committed 11 turnovers.

"What I liked was that we shared the ball and our shot selection good for the most part," Hernandez said.

IVC had four players in double figures, led by sophomore forward Brandon Hucks. He finished with 19 points and eight rebounds.
Matt Ballard had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Freshman forward Kwame Alexander and sophomore guard Jeff Ledbetter each chipped in 10 points. Alexander had five rebounds and Ledbetter also had nine rebounds, four assists and five steals.

And Travis Ballard scored a career-high seven points.

The Lasers play again Wednesday, opening up Orange Empire Conference play against Fullerton at home at 7:30 p.m.

Fullerton won the conference title last year.

"The conference is always tough, but I think it is even more balanced this year," Hernandez said. "All seven teams are capable of making the playoffs."