Men's basketball team impressive in opener
Nov 07, 2009
The Irvine Valley men's basketball team got its 2009-10 season off to a rousing start with a 69-38 nonconference win over MiraCosta Friday night at Irvine Valley.
Coming off a 14-17 campaign last year and with a roster filled with newcomers this year, no one knew what to expect out of Irvine Valley going into the opener.
But the Lasers started fast and were never really threatened in a dominating performance.
Coach Jerry Hernandez was especially impressed with his team's defense against a MiraCosta team that could never seem to get untracked.
"We still have to improve offensively," Hernandez said. "But I was really pleased with how hard the guys played on defense. They really got after it from the start."
IVC held MiraCosta to just seven points through the first 14 minutes of the contest.
Irvine Valley led, 32-14, at halftime and never looked back on its way to the win.
Red-shirt sophomore forward Durrell Norman led the way with 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists. He was one of four players for the Lasers in double figures for points.
Freshman guard Sean Donovan came off the bench and showed a nice shooting touch, finishing with 15 points. He was 6 of 8 from the field and 3 of 4 from behind the three-point line.
Sophomore forward Max Carrier also had a solid night, contributing 12 points, five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals.
And freshman forward Travis Fulton added a hard-nosed 10 points and nine rebounds to go along with three assists for the Lasers, who as a team shot 44.2 percent from the field (23 of 52).
Freshman forward Joe Eberhard also had five points, four rebounds and four steals and freshman point guard Christian Mack chipped in two assists and two steals.
Irvine Valley finished with four blocks and 12 steals and held MiraCosta to just 26.0 percent shooting (13 of 50), including only 22.2 percent in the first half (6 of 27).
"It was a great start," Hernandez said. "There is still a lot of work to do, but there were definitely a lot of positives in this game tonight."
Irvine Valley plays again on Tuesday at home, taking on Southwestern at 5 p.m. in a nonconference match-up.