Irvine Valley's men's basketball team rallied in the final minutes to defeat Cypress, 46-44, in a defensive battle on the road Friday night.
The Lasers and Chargers know each other well with former associate head coach Andrew Alhadeff in charge of Cypress.
Cypress had its way and led for most of the game before IVC found a way to a victory at the end.
Irvine Valley improved its record to 16-7 overall and 8-4 in the Orange Empire Conference. Cypress went to 14-10 overall and 6-6 in conference.
Irvine Valley was led by sophomore guard Aaron Strings who scored 17 points. He went 3 of 6 from three-point range.
Sophomore guard Luc Krystkowiak knocked down big free throws down the stretch for the Lasers and totaled 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Grant Sii paced the Chargers with 16 points to go along with three rebouns and two assists.
IVC scored just 14 points in the first half, but the Lasers got better in the final 20 minutes and especially in the final three and a half minutes.
Cypress led, 41-36, with 3:24 to play on a basket by Ramiah Adedigba.
The Lasers were still down by five points with 2:18 to go, but sophomore forward Josh Walker made a free throw to cut the Charger lead to 41-37.
IVC freshman guard Gavin O'Neill, knocked down a three-pointer with 1:41 to pull IVC within a point (41-40).
And with 46 seconds to play, Krystkowiak blocked Adedigba's three-point attempt and was fouled.
Krystkowiak knocked down both free throws to give Irvine Valley its first lead of the game (42-41) with 43 seconds to play.
After a Cypress miss, Krystkowiak was fouled and sank two more free throws to give IVC a 44-41 advantage with 15 seconds to go.
Grant made a layup to cut the IVC lead to one point with nine seconds left, but Strings canned two free throws with three seconds left to seal the game for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley plays again on Tuesday, hosting another big conference game against Saddleback at 5 p.m.
Spectators are allowed back inside Hart Gymnasium on the IVC campus with social distancing. Masks are required.
