Irvine Valley's men's basketball team has faced a tough, early-season schedule.
Coach Jerry Hernandez is hoping that it will help his squad down the line.
The Lasers matched up with another ranked team on Wednesday night, falling to San Diego Miramar, 49-36, at home.
Irvine Valley has faced Cuyamaca, Ventura, Cerritos and Miramar so far. And the last three teams IVC has played (Ventura, Cerritos and Miramar) have a combined record of 13-2.
Ventura is 6-0 and one of the top-ranked teams in Southern California.
IVC has been out-scored by a total of six points in its four games so far this season.
The Lasers aren't far off, but have struggled in the last two games on the offensive end.
Irvine Valley trailed, 24-15, at the half to Miramar Wednesday night.
And for the game, Irvine Valley shot just 21.3 percent (13 of 61) from the field, 16.1 percent (5 of 31) from three-point range and 45.5 percent (5 of 11) from the line.
Sophomore guard Luc Krystkowiak led Irvine Valley with nine points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Sophomore guard Aaron Strings added seven points and sophomore post player Josh Walker added six points and eight rebounds.
Roman Wright had 12 points and hit two three-pointers and Cameron Barry added 11 points and six rebounds for Miramar.
IVC plays again on Friday at MiraCosta at 6 p.m.
