Men's basketball team stuns Saddleback
Feb 11, 2009
The Irvine Valley men's basketball team will not be playing in the post season this year.
But the Lasers earned a playoff type of win Wednesday night in front of a big crowd at home.
Sophomore guard Jeff Ledbetter banked in a deep three-pointer from the left side at the buzzer to lift Irvine Valley to a 62-60 Orange Empire Conference win over district rival Saddleback.
The win improved Irvine Valley's record to 12-17 overall and 2-8 in conference.
Saddleback, which was just a half game behind Fullerton for first place heading into the contest, now has some work to do if it wants to win the conference title.
The Gauchos, who were ranked second in the state, saw their record drop to 22-7 overall and 7-2 in conference.
Saddleback led, 33-28, at halftime and held a 37-32 lead with 16:20 left in the game on a jumper by Malik Wilson.
Irvine Valley answered with a 6-0 run over the next 1:08. Freshman guard Travis Ballard hit a three-pointer to put the Lasers ahead, 38-37.
The Lasers took their largest lead of the second half at 48-40 on a dunk by freshman forward Kwame Alexander with 10:49 to play.
Saddleback chipped away at the Laser lead, however. The Gauchos caught IVC at 54-54. And then went ahead, 56-54.
Irvine Valley tied it up at 56-56 and then Saddleback went on a 4-0 run. Kevin Menner's jumper with 1:06 left gave the Gauchos a 60-56 advantage.
Ledbetter, who had been bottled up by the Saddleback defense for most of the night, came through with his first three-pointer of the evening with 45 seconds left to make it a 60-59 game.
IVC sophomore forward Jon Reed then made two huge defensive plays. He blocked lay-ups by Franklin Session and Menner on consecutive attempts and grabbed the defensive rebound after his second block.
IVC brough the ball down the floor and Saddleback, which had a foul to give, took a foul with 2.6 seconds left.
The Gauchos then called a timeout to set up their defense.
Sophomore forward Carlos Pinto inbounded the ball for the Lasers and found Ledbetter open on the left sideline. He rose up and threw in the game-winning three-pointer.
His teammates mobbed him immediately.
Reed, who made the huge defensive stand, also paced the Lasers on offense. Overall, he finished with 25 points on 8 of 16 shooting from the floor, including 5 of 9 on three-pointers. He also went 4 for 4 at the free throw line. Reed added nine rebounds and three blocks.
Ledbetter finished with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals.
And freshman point guard Travis Ballard had probably his best game of the season with nine points, four assists and two steals.
Alexander chipped in eight points and six rebounds and sophomore forward Brandon Hucks also had eight points.
Saddleback was led by Menner with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Terrel Mack added 12 points off the bench and Sesson finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Irvine Valley shot 37.3 percent for the game (22 of 59), but made six more three-pointers than the Gauchos and was 10 of 11 at the free throw line.
Saddleback shot 42.0 percent (12 of 26) from the field. The Gauchos hurt themselves at the free throw line, making just 16 of 26 attempts (61.5 percent).
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday, traveling to Santa Ana for a 5:30 p.m. game.