Sophomore guard Christian Louis did it again for the Irvine Valley men's basketball team.
For the second time this year, Louis beat the buzzer with a shot to give the Lasers a victory.
His tip in on a missed jumper by freshman point guard JT Robinson as time expired gave Irvine Valley a 63-62 win over Santa Ana Wednesday night at home.
It was a huge Orange Empire Conference win for IVC. The Lasers, who lost at Santa Ana the first time the two teams met, improved their record to 15-8 overall and 5-6 in conference.
Santa Ana went to 8-15 overall and 3-8 in conference action.
Irvine Valley looked like it had a win in the bag in the second half on Wednesday.
The Lasers took a 55-38 lead after a layup by Robinson with 9:33 to play.
But IVC stopped scoring. Santa Ana went on a 21-3 run and took a 59-58 advantage after a basket by Jalani Horn with 2:20 left to play.
Freshman guard Aaron Strings nailed a three-pointer to put Irvine Valley back in front at 61-59 with 1:56 left and it was back and forth the rest of the way.
Two free throws by Sean Githens gave Santa Ana a 62-61 lead with 16 seconds left.
Irvine Valley called a timeout with nine seconds left and then gave the ball to Robinson, who was coming off a big game last Friday where he recorded a triple double.
His fadeway shot with the clock running down was off the mark, but Louis flew in from the right side and tipped it home.
The referees met for a brief moment, but confirmed that the basket was good.
Strings led Irvine Valley with 17 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Sophomore forward Aashad Womack added 13 points and 12 rebounds, Robinson had 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists and Louis contributed 11 points for IVC.
Santa Ana was paced by Horn with 19 points, six rebounds and two steals. Ramon Lopez had 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Dons.
One of the differences for Irvine Valley was on the glass. The Lasers out-rebounded Santa Ana, 44-29, in the game.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday at home against Riverside at 6 p.m.
