Irvine Valley's men's basketball team lost its second straight Orange Empire Conference game, falling at Riverside, 61-46, on Friday night.
The loss dropped Irvine Valley's record to 11-5 overall and 1-3 in conference. Riverside improved to 10-7 overall and stayed perfect in conference at 5-0.
Defense was the factor for Riverside as it held Irvine Valley to a 37.3 shooting percentage from the field and just 13.3 percent from three-point range. Riverside also had seven blocked shots as a team.
Irvine Valley trailed just 26-20 at the half, but was out-scored, 35-26, in the second half.
Sophomore forward Austin Carter had 15 points to pace Irvine Valley.
Sophomore forward Aashad Womack finished with 12 points and nine rebounds and freshman guard JT Robinson had 12 points.
Zekiah LoVett paced the Tigers on offense with 14 points. Edwyn Collins was next in line with 12 points accompanied by six rebounds off the bench.
Irvine Valley next plays against Orange Coast on Monday at 6 p.m. at home in a conference game.
On the year, Robinson is averaging 11.3 points and 2.0 assists per game. Carter averages 10.6 points and 7.2 rebounds, sophomore guard Christian Louis is averaging 9.6 points, Womack averages 8.1 points and 6.9 rebounds and freshman guard Devin Owens is averaging 7.6 points a game.
