Men's basketball team ends season with win
Feb 18, 2009
The Irvine Valley men's basketball team finished up the regular season with another victory.
The Lasers went on the road and beat Cypress, 88-78, Wednesday night in an Orange Empire Conference contest.
It was Irvine Valley's third straight win and fourth victory in its last five games. But the winning might have been too little too late for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley, which improved its record to 14-17 overall and 4-8 in conference, probably won't get into the Southern California Regional Playoffs.
The best the Lasers can end up in conference is tied for fourth place.
"It was a great way to finish the regular season," IVC Coach Jerry Hernandez said. "With one or two more victories in the first round of conference play we would definitely be in the playoffs."
Irvine Valley lost to Orange Coast by three points at home and to Santa Ana by two points at home in the first round of conference. Those were two teams it beat in second-round match-ups.
On Wednesday night at Cypress, Irvine Valley was paced by sophomore forward Jon Reed, who finished with 21 points and five rebounds. Reed averaged 19.3 points in Irvine Valley's last four games.
Sophomore center Matt Ballard had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, sophomore forward Brandon Hucks added 15 points and sophomore guard Jeff Ledbetter and freshman forward Kwame Alexander each contributed 10 points. Freshman guard Blake Touchard chipped in five assists.
IVC shot 48.1 percent for the game (22 of 52) and out-rebounded Cypress 40-31.
The Lasers also made 32 free throws (32 of 47) in a game that featured 55 fouls between the two teams.
"It was a physical game and a game where neither team could really stop the other from scoring," Hernandez said. "But I was pleased with how we played. We were in control the whole second half."