Irvine Valley Alone in First After Beating Saddleback

Irvine Valley took sole possession of first place with a 75-50 victory over cold-shooting Saddleback in an Orange Empire men’s basketball game Friday.

The teams entered tied for first. Damian Raibon scored 16 and Robert Griffin and Commander King added 11 each for Irvine Valley (18-7, 6-2).

The Lasers dominated at the free-throw line, making 26 of 34. Saddleback (10-14, 5-3) was 11 of 18 on free throws, but the Gauchos were 18 of 68 (27%) from the field.

In other conference games:

Fullerton 94, Cypress 87 (OT)--Ben Sanders scored six points in overtime to lead second-place Fullerton (17-7, 5-3). Sanders finished with 27 points.

Cypress (11-14, 2-6), down by 11 points with 3:52 left, came charging back and tied the score at 79-79 with 19 seconds left on a pair of free-throws by A.D. Lamoureux. Lamoureux scored 30 points and had 13 rebounds.

Santa Ana 75, Golden West 63--Jimmy Alapag scored a season-high 24 points, going 12-of-12 from the free-throw line for Santa Ana (13-11, 5-3).

Riverside 77, Orange Coast 71--Shaun Jackson scored 23 points and had nine rebounds for Orange Coast (15-9, 4-4).

In Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball:

Fullerton 69, Cypress 64--Angie Baca scored 25 points as host Fullerton (20-7, 6-2) moved into a tie for second place with Cypress (19-8, 6-2).

Irvine Valley 69, Saddleback 53--Heather Cunningham scored 16 points for first-place Irvine Valley (19-4, 7-1).

Orange Coast 80, Riverside 57--Jennifer Ludwicki scored 30 points for host Orange Coast (17-9, 5-3).

Santa Ana 64, Golden West 50--Rochelle Anthony had 18 points and eight rebounds for host Santa Ana (16-5, 5-3).