Irvine Valley's men's basketball team battled one of the top teams in the state Friday night in its last game of the regular season.
But the Lasers didn't have quite enough to hang with No. 4 Santiago Canyon until the final buzzer in a 76-59 Orange Empire Conference defeat.
Santiago Canyon (26-2, 14-2) earned a share of the conference title with the victory.
The loss dropped Irvine Valley's record to 16-12 overall and 6-10 in conference. The Lasers finished tied for sixth in the final conference standings.
IVC now hopes to be one of the final teams into the So. Cal. Regional Playoffs. Those pairings will be announced on Monday.
Irvine Valley was out-scored, 16-2, to open the game on Friday and was down by as many as 17 points in the first half.
But the Lasers scored the final five points of the half, including getting a deep three-pointer by freshman forward Colby Waite before the horn went off to pull IVC to within, 41-29.
Irvine Valley made a further push early in the second half.
A three-pointer by freshman guard Aaron Strings and then a layup by freshman guard Devon Owens made it a 46-42 game with 15:33 to play.
But Santiago Canyon answered with a 12-0 run to take complete control.
A layup by David Agba gave the Hawks a 58-42 advantage with 10:26 to play.
Irvine Valley didn't get closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
IVC out-rebounded Santiago Canyon, 37-29, in the game, but the Lasers shot just 38.5 percent (20 of 52) from the field compared to 47.3 percent (26 of 55) by the Hawks.
Sophomore forward Austin Carter had 12 points and seven rebounds, Owens scored 12 points and had three assists and sophomore forward Aashad Womack finished with nine points and eight rebounds for the Lasers.
Santiago Canyon got 20 points from Antoine Jenkins and 18 points apiece from Lucas Holden and A.J. Garrity.
