Irvine Valley's men's basketball team ran into a ranked squad for the second night in a row in its own 25th Annual Irvine Valley Classic and the Lasers ended up with a second close loss.
The Lasers, ranked No. 15 in the So. Cal Presason Coaches Poll, lost to No. 11 Cerritos, 54-46, Friday night at home.
Irvine Valley had its record slip to 1-2 overall, while Cerritos improved to 3-1.
IVC fell to No. 4 Ventura, 62-57, on Thursday night.
Sophomore guard Luc Krystkowiak led IVC with 17 points on 17 of 12 shooting and seven rebounds. He was named to the all-tournament team.
Sophomore guard Aaron Strings added 12 points and four rebounds for the Lasers.
IVC got off to a nice start, leading, 11-5, after a layup by freshman guard Brian Mendoza with 11:52 left in the first half.
And the Lasers were still in the game, down, 27-26, after a free throw by Krystkowiak with 1:43 left in the half.
But Cerritos went on a 7-0 run to end the half.
Cerritos led, 34-26, at the break and never looked back.
And the Lasers had trouble scoring most of the rest of the night.
The Falcons were paced by all-tournament player Joshua Belvin, who finished with 14 points.
And six different players had at least six points for Cerritos. Andre Fields added nine points and seven rebounds.
In the title game of the tournament, Ventura rallied to defeat Canyons, 77-76, in the final seconds. Adrian McIntyre, who led Ventura with 24 points, nailed a three-pointer with 2.3 seconds left for the win.
Irvine Valley plays again next Wednesday, hosting Miramar at 7 p.m.
Irvine Valley Classic All-Tournament Team
MVP - Adrian McIntyre (Ventura)
Anthony McIntyre (Ventura)
Andrew Henderson (Canyons)
Dillon Barrientos (Canyons)
Joshua Belvin (Cerritos)
Luc Krystkowiak (Irvine Valley)
