Berry Quits, Fullerton Falls to Irvine Valley

The most trying week of Fullerton College Coach Dieter Horton’s brief career grew a little more painful Wednesday when he watched Irvine Valley take home part of the Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball title Wednesday.

Irvine Valley played its sharpest game of the season, shooting 63% from the field in the second half and beating Fullerton, 94-72, in a first-place showdown at Irvine Valley.

The Lasers (24-7, 11-2) cliched a share of the conference title and moved a game in front of Fullerton (17-12, 10-3) with one left. Irvine Valley can win the title outright with a victory Friday at Cypress.

Fullerton’s troubles really started Monday when starting point guard Ty-Juan Berry didn’t show up for practice. Under Horton’s rules, it meant Berry would sit out the Irvine Valley game, but Berry elected to leave the team for good.

“It doesn’t matter who the player is or how important the game is,” said Horton, in his first full season after taking over at midseason last year.

Irvine Valley Coach Jerry Hernandez said he had heard that Berry wasn’t going to play, but didn’t believe it until he didn’t show up.

“I give a lot of credit to Dieter,” he said. “It makes you a better team in the long run.”

Berry or not, Irvine Valley played too well for Fullerton, which trailed at the half, 36-31. Daryl Todd turned in a conference most valuable player-caliber performance in the second half.

He scored 19 of his game-high 30 in the half, making all four of his three pointers. Todd, a sophomore forward, also had 10 rebounds.

Irvine Valley had 11 three-pointers in the game and scored with three-pointers on five consecutive possessions midway through the second half.

Allen Fletcher added five three pointers and finished with a season-high 17 points for Irvine Valley.

“We got in a terrific groove shooting the ball,” said Hernandez. “We haven’t been a great three-point shooting team (31%) all season.”

Ernie Burries, who normally plays forward, took over at point guard for Fullerton and had 11 points. Brian Montonati had a team-high 16 and Sterling Rachal added 14 for the Hornets.

“Nobody’s played better against us all year,” Horton said. “Our kids played hard but they’re drained emotionally from the week.”

In other conference games:

Cypress 87, Riverside 82--A.D. Lamoureux made 15 of 18 shots from the field and scored a game-high 33 points for Cypress (14-14, 6-7). Lamoureux also had 15 rebounds, 10 offensive. Willie Allen added 22 points for Cypress.

Riverside is 20-12, 7-6.

Rancho Santiago 63, Golden West 55--Lohnnie Tape had 24 points and 11 rebounds and Andres Nieto had 19 points and five steals for Rancho Santiago (15-13, 4-9).

Jacy Armbruster had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Golden West (8-21, 3-10)

Saddleback 83, Orange Coast 55--Greg Woods scored 17 points and Leif Kemp added 13 for Saddleback (18-10, 8-5).

Carlos Reyes scored 17 points for Orange Coast (12-17, 3-10).