The Irvine Valley men's basketball team had won three games in a row and moved up in the Orange Empire Conference standings.
But the Lasers fell to Saddleback Friday night at home, 60-54.
Irvine Valley's record went to 11-9 overall and 3-4 in conference. Saddleback is also 3-4 in the OEC.
The Lasers were right there.
Saddleback shot 40.8 percent (20 of 49) from the field. IVC shot 40.0 percent (18 of 45) from the field
It was a tight game at 46-46 with 9:17 left in the second half.
The Lasers took a 48-47 lead with 8:31 to play off a layup by sophmore forward Josiah Reed.
But, Saddleback scored the next six points in a row.
David Mitchell made a jump shot to put the Bobcats up, 53-48, with 4:27 left and they never looked back.
Saddleback's Mitchell finished with a game-high 21 points and Xerian Anderson added nine points and five rebounds.
Irvine Valley was led by sophomore guard Ammon Allan with 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks and freshman forward Matt Mowers with 10 points, four reounds and three assists.
The Lasers look to bounce back, hosting Fullerton in another conference game on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.
