Pirates fall late to Lasers, 67-60
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Irvine Valley (21-3, 6-2) | 29 | 38 | 67 |
|
Orange Coast (7-17, 1-6) | 30 | 30 | 60 |
COSTA MESA -- For about 55 minutes, the Orange Coast College men's basketball team gave 20-win Irvine Valley all it could handle, but a late Lasers' run doomed the Pirates, 67-60, on Wednesday night inside the Peterson Gym.
Back-to-back free throws by Tim Pena pushed the Pirates (7-17, 1-6 in the Orange Empire Conference) into a 51-51 tie with the Lasers (21-3, 6-2) with 5:11 remaining in the game, but IVC clamped down and outscored Coast 12-4 over the next 3:30 to put the game away.
Dathon Spencer, who led the Lasers with 18 points, scored six of IVC's 12 points during that run to help the guests avoid a conference upset.
Brad Buchignani led Coast with 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers, while Devaun Evans added 15 and Henry Nguyen chipped in nine.
Shaquille Hunter scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Lasers, while Yanick Kulich chipped in 10.
A tightly-contested first half left the Pirates in front, 30-29 before IVC opened the second half with a 10-3 run over the first seven minutes to make it 39-33, Lasers.
Coast would hang around and over the next five minutes, the Pirates outscored the Lasers 12-6 to even the score a 45 with 8:30 remaining.
Both teams would trade baskets over the next three minutes before finally, the Lasers used their late 12-4 run to put things out of reach for the Pirates.
OCC will return to action on Friday at Cypress College, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Coast's next home game will be on Thursday night for "Coaches vs. Cancer Night" against Santa Ana, also at 7:30 p.m.
