Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
The No. 16 Cerro Coso men's basketball team were on a four-game winning streak and a three game Inland Empire Athletic Conference winning streak and tied with Chaffey for first place. The Coyotes welcomed conference opponent Palo Verde Pirates to their home looking to improve to 4-0 in conference and push their winning streak to five games. After 40 minutes, the Coyotes defeated the Pirates 74-49 to continue in first place at 4-0 and continue in the hunt for a conference championship and a home playoff game.
"A win is a win, but I don't think it was a very good performance. I think we were flat and didn't come out ready to play. Our energy wasn't good. I decided to go five in and five out, I made that decision and probably shouldn't have but I wanted to reward some guys against a team that I thought we were superior than," Head Coach Chris Dugan said on his team's performance. "We need to be locked in. I have said it many times before you do not value opponents. You get to play 28 times a year and it's the same old story gear up and get after it. And we did not do today, and people will say you won by 25. But its not about that. We have a chance to win a league championship, we have a chance to get a home playoff game, we have a chance to go very far in playoffs, and you have to be ready. And as we know two years ago, we thought we were going to beat a team in the playoffs, and got absolutely embarrassed in the first round. This isn't about today; this is about the vision we want to create."
The Coyotes finished with three players scoring in double digits with starters Destin Jenkins and Trent Gordon both scoring 22 points each, and Sincere Edwards added 10 points off the bench. Cerro Coso won the rebounding battle, 42-40, and the turnover battle, 9-12, but lost in steals and assists. Malachi Greenwich led the team in rebounding with 10 and Gordon added eight. Eddie Garner had five assists and Greenwich added three.
Cerro Coso started the game slow offensively in the first five minutes missing easy buckets under the basket and open jump shots. But they also committed simple turnovers from being called for traveling to sloppy passes that Palo Verde was able to either steal or set its defense to take away an easy look offensively. The Pirates were not fully capable of taking advantage of the slow start and only had a 7-0 lead as the Coyotes defense stifled the visitors. During that run, Dugan said their defense has been their calling card all season as they held Palo Verde to only 18 points in the first half. When looking at the offensive woes he added the good looks and missed shots are not something he worried about, instead it was the lack of zip, movement, hard cuts, and screens from his players that had the offense off.
It was the defense that led the Coyotes to a 25-point win and not the offense. The Coyotes held the Pirates to one and done on many of the visitor's offensive moments. The home team was quick on rotation and were able to get a hand up to either change the Pirates shot or get a block. Their quick hands deflected many passes or got steals for fastbreak points for the Coyotes.
The Coyotes continue Inland Empire Athletic Conference on the road visiting San Bernardino Valley on Wednesday with tipoff at 7 p.m. Dugan spoke on what he wants to see from his players as they prepare to face the Wolverines.
"Need to have a great week of practice. We play San Bernardino at San Bernardino who is the incumbent. They are the big dogs and have been since I have been here. We have a great opportunity to go in and get a W, so we have to be locked in. And they will be because they will see its San Bern and all that. We need to have a great, hard, get after it practice," he said.
The first half began with the Pirates going on a 7-0 run in the first five minutes. The Coyotes stopped the Pirates run when Destin Jenkins hit one of two free throws cutting the deficit to six points, 7-1. Kaleb McClendon scored a layup from an offensive rebound and Jenkins scored on an offensive rebound dunk on a missed shot by Darnell Turner Jr., cutting the deficit to two points that forced a Palo Verde timeout. Palo Verde scored a layup to cut the Coyotes 5-0 run after the timeout, and Trent Gordon scored on a dunk on a bounce pass from Eddie Garner to cut the deficit to one, 9-8. On the ensuing play, the Coyotes used a full court press with Garner getting a steal and finding Jenkins open for a corner three to take the lead 10-9 with 13:43 left in the half. After the Pirates scored, Cerro Coso retook the lead on a layup from Gordon on an offensive board. Gordon then hit two free throws and Jenkins hit one of two free throws, and then Jenkins followed it with a layup on a pass from Garner for a 17-11 lead and forcing a Palo Verde time out.
Out of the timeout, the Pirates scored on a jump shot but the Coyotes responded with Jenkins going to the free throw line and hitting both. He then extended the lead on a layup with 7:55 left in the half and a 21-13 lead. Sincere Edwards found Gordon on a screen and roll play for a dunk. Gordon then scored on a layup but missed the and one free throw. With 5:16, Jason Morris hit a jump shot to give the Coyotes a 10-point lead, 27-17. That led to a Coyotes timeout and the defense held Palo Verde scoreless on the next possession. Malachi Greenwich thought he had a tip in bucket but was called for offensive interference. On the next play, Jenkins hit a corner three on a pass from Garner for a 30-17 lead and right before the half came to an end Gordon got an open dunk on a pass from Garner for a 32-18 lead.
To start the second half, the Coyotes opened the scoring on an offensive rebound and layup from Gordon. After two minutes of bad offense from the Coyotes, including losing the ball on bad passes, Dugan called an early timeout. Following the time out, Edwards was fouled and hit one of two from the charity stripe. Jenkins then hit another corner three on a pass from Turner for a 38-24 lead. Gordon scored on an offensive rebound and Garner hit a corner three on a pass from Jenkins for a 43-24 lead. Jenkins then found an open lane down the middle for an easy one-handed dunk that forced the Pirates to take a timeout with 15:55 left to play.
Coming out of the timeout, the Coyotes defense made a stop and lead to Greenwich scoring an easy layup after grabbing his own missed shot. Jakwon Morris scored on a layup and Jenkins hit one of two from the free throw line. Jenkins then scored in the post after grabbing his own missed shot for a 52-29 lead. The Pirates responded by scoring the next four points and Jenkins responded by getting fouled and sinking both his free throws. The Coyotes led 54-33 and extended the lead on a layup from Edwards. Palo Verde scored the next two baskets, a two and three, that were both contested by the Coyotes defense. Edwards scored on a fadeaway jump shot and then got an easy dunk on a pass from Gordon to put the Coyotes up 60-38 and got the fans out of their seats. Greenwich grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the putback for a 62-38 lead and a Pirates timeout.
With 5:09 left in the game, Greenwich found Gordon for a layup for a 64-38 lead. On the ensuing play, Greenwich was given a technical foul after he and a Pirates player had a few words on a foul. The Pirates hit all four free throws, two from the technical and two from the foul on the shot, and then on the ensuing play went to the free throw line where the visitors hit one of two for a five-point swing. Jonathan Leggett was fouled on a shot attempt and he made both his free throws for a 66-43 lead. Morris found Jenkins for a jump shot and Greenwich found Gordon for a hook shot for a 70-48 lead. Leggett made a pass to McClendon for a layup and then Leggett found Gordon for a layup for a 74-47 lead with 1:32 left.