SG Shaquille Hunter had 13 pts and 5 asts and SF Jimmy Golden made 4 three-pointers to lead #5 Irvine Valley to a wire-to-wire win at Fullerton Thursday night to stay in the Orange Empire Conference race.
Irvine Valley (23-4, 8-3) has been a tough team to figure out as the Lasers have twice toppled pre-season favorite Saddleback only to lose to Santa Ana in its next game. That's exactly what happened last Friday and the most recent Tuesday, resulting in the Lasers falling two games off the pace in the OEC even after sweeping the season series from the Gauchos.
But Thursday IVC had no such worries. The Lasers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and led wire to wire over a Fullerton team that has stuggled this season but was coming off a win at Riverside on Tuesday, easily the Hornets' best win of the season.
Golden hit back-to-back threes to push the IVC lead to 18-6. Two free throws from Ctr Declan Daly pushed the lead to 13 points at 20-7, and a basket by Ctr Yanick Kulich off a pass from PF Chris Porter made it 28-14.
Fullerton (6-19, 2-8) cut the deficit to single digits when PG Carnell Gray made two free throws with 2:12 left in the first half to make it 30-21. But Hunter answered with a 3-pointer, and PG Ronnie Harris hit a short jumper in the final seconds of the half to push IVC's lead to 38-25 at the break.
Hunter made two free throws after Fullerton SF Joel Brokenbrough was assessed a flagrant foul just 1:26 into the second half to push Irvine Valley's lead to 15 points at 40-25. Porter pushed the margin to 17 points at 47-30 when he scored with 16:05 left, and moments later Hunter made it 49-30 with a steal & lay-up.
Fullerton cut the margin to 10 points on a 3-point play by Brokenbrough with 10:18 left, but just 15 seconds later the Hornet sophomore picked up his fourth foul. He stayed in the game but Irvine Valley maintained its double-digit lead the rest of the game, and Daly took advantage of Brokenbrough and his fouls, scoring on consecutive trips down the floor to push Irvine Valley's lead back to 19 points at 68-49 with 6:25 left.
Brokenbrough finally fouled out on a double-foul (Daly was also called, but it was just his 4th foul) with 5:22 left. Fullerton got within 11 points on two free throws by Gray with 1:17 left, but time ran out on the Hornets. Irvine Valley got the ball back with just under 40 seconds left and SG Dathon Spencer dribbled until the shot clock reached 1 and then lofted a 30-foot rainbow that bounced off the rim, preventing a shot clock violation and ending the game.
Hunter led Irvine Valley with his 13 pts and his 5 asts were game-high. Golden had 12 pts on his 4 three-pointers. Porter had 11 pts and 5 rebs, and Kulich had a very strong game off the bench with 10 pts, 4 rebs and 2 steals. Spencer chipped in with 8 pts, and Daly had 7 pts, 5 rebs, 3 asts and 3 blocked shots.
For Fullerton, Gray led all scorers with his 22 pts, which was technically off the bench as the Hornets started an all-sophomore lineup on Sophomore night. Gray added 7 rebs and 2 asts. Brokenbrough managed 19 pts, 6 rebs and 4 asts despite the foul trouble. But no other Hornet scored in double digits. PF Dakota Allinson had 7 pts and PF Travis Rictor had 3 pts and a game-high 8 rebs.
box score
Thursday, February 13, 2014 - 7:30 pm
at Fullerton College
Orange Empire Conference
Irvine Valley Lasers 71:
3-Jalen Hall, PG - 0/2 fg, 4/6 ft, 2 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 4 pf, 4 pts
4-Jimmy Golden, SF - 4/7 fg, 2 reb, 2 ast, 4 pf, 12 pts
11-Shaquille Hunter, SG - 4/8 fg, 3/4 ft, 1 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl, 1 pf, 13 pts
30-Chris Porter, PF - 5/11 fg, 5 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl, 3 pf, 11 pts
34-Declan Daly, C - 2/3 fg, 3/4 ft, 5 reb, 3 ast, 3 blk, 4 pf, 7 pts
42-Andrew Bastien, C - 0/2 fg, 2 reb, 2 pf, 0 pts
15-Ronnie Harris, G - 2/2 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 4 pts
33-Austin Priest, F - 1/5 fg, 0/1 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 3 pf, 2 pts
22-Dathon Spencer, G - 2/5 fg, 4/7 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 8 pts
10-Chris Salas, F - 1 reb, 0 pts
24-Yanick Kulich, C - 5/8 fg, 0/1 ft, 4 reb, 2 stl, 1 pf, 10 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 25/53 fg (.472), 14/23 ft (.609), 30 reb, 20 ast, 4 blk, 10 stl, 23 pf, 71 pts
3-pt fg (7): Golden 4, Hunter 2, Porter
Turnovers (10): Spencer 3, Porter 2, Golden, Hunter, Bastien, Salas, Kulich
Fullerton Hornets 60:
10-Greg Tuchek Jr., SG - 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 0 pts
12-Amin Sahwani, PG - 0 pts
23-Joel Brokenbrough, SF - 5/11 fg, 9/10 ft, 6 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 5 pf, 19 pts
24-Dakota Allinson, PF - 3/6 fg, 0/1 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 7 pts
35-Kessio Viegas, C - 0/2 ft, 3 pf, 0 pts
22-Travis Rictor, F - 0/5 fg, 3/4 ft, 8 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 3 pf, 3 pts
1-Carnell Gray, G - 9/14 fg, 4/7 ft, 7 reb, 2 ast, 22 pts
5-Roger Hamel, G - 2/5 fg, 1 reb, 2 ast, 3 pf, 5 pts
21-Kyle Kintzle, F - 1/2 fg, 1 reb, 2 pf, 3 pts
0-Duabre Doucette, G - 0/2 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 1 pf, 0 pts
32-Ryan McGee, F - 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 pt
3-Khris Nelson, G - 0/1 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 0 pts
team rebounds: 1
Totals: 20/46 fg (.435), 17/26 ft (.654), 35 reb, 15 ast, 2 blk, 4 stl, 18 pf, 60 pts
3-pt fg (3): Allinson, Hamel, Kintzle
Flagrant Foul: Brokenbrough (FL-1)
Intentional Foul: Doucette
Fouled Out: Brokenbrough 5:22 left
Turnovers (13): Allinson 3, Gray 3, Hamel 2, Sahwani, Brokenbrough, Viegas, Rictor, Doucette
Halftime Score: Irvine Valley 38, Fullerton 25
Updated Records: Irvine Valley (#5-South, #10-Calif) 23-4, 8-3 in OEC; Fullerton 6-19, 2-8 in OEC
Irvine Valley led wire to wire and by 10+ the entire second half.
