Irvine Valley's men's basketball team started its 2025-26 season with a solid win on the road Thursday night.
IVC defeated Southwestern, 76-72, in Chula Vista.
The Lasers were led by sophomore all-Orange Empire Conference post player Matt Mowers, who finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
Mowers went 6 of 12 from the field and 13 of 15 from the free throw line and also chipped in one assist and one steal in the win.
Sophomore forward Garrett Trayer was also big for the Lasers. He ended with 14 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals. Trayer, who played a team-high 34 minutes, went 6 of 6 from the charity stripe.
IVC had two more player in double figures scoring with freshman guard Ahmad Alhammouri going for 12 points, five rebounds and four assists and sophomore wing Yanis Aldeguer finishing with 10 points and five rebounds.
The two teams combined to go to the free throw line 72 times in the game (29 of 36 for the Lasers).
Irvine Valley shot 22 of 55 (40.0 percent) from the field as a team in the contest and held Southwestern to 31.6 percent shooting.
The Lasers are off for the next week and will host their 29th Irvine Valley Classic next Thursday and Friday evenings with Cerritos, College of the Canyons and Ventura as part of the event.
