Irvine Valley's men's basketball team came within seconds of its first Orange Empire Conference victory Wednesday night at Saddleback.
The Lasers battled back from eight points down with four minutes left and held a 63-61 lead after a free throw by freshman guard David Ogunlade with eight seconds to play.
But Saddleback's James Burries made a layup with a second left to tie the score.
And Saddleback went on to beat Irvine Valley, 75-72, in overtime.
The Gauchos led the whole way in overtime. The Lasers pulled within a point on a jumper by freshman guard Christian Griffin at 70-69 and then again at 73-72 with eight seconds left after a three-pointer by sophomore forward Charlie Henderson.
Saddleback sank two free throws to make it a three-point game and IVC missed a long three-pointer at the buzzer.
Henderson finished with 26 points and nine rebounds to lead IVC.
Griffin added 16 points, fivve rebounds and five assists and Ogunlade had 10 points and three assists for the Lasers.
Elijah Al-Debaran had 20 points and Burries finished with 19 points off the bench for the Gauchos.
Irvine Valley had its record fall to 4-10 overall and 0-2 in conference, while Saddleback improved to 10-5 overall and 2-1 in conference.
The Lasers play again on Friday, hosting Riverside at 7 p.m. It is part of a doubleheader with the IVC women's team. IVC, ranked No. 19 in the state, plays Golden West at 5 p.m.
