The Cerro Coso Men basketball team opened Inland Empire Athletic Conference hosting Victor Valley and after a late run in the second half, the Coyotes held on for a 85-78 win. The Coyotes led by 20 for most of the game but the final five minutes saw the Rams cut the deficit and give themselves a chance to steal the win. The Coyotes responded and did enough to hold off the Rams and avoid dropping a home game in conference play. The Coyotes are on the road Saturday when they visit Palo Verde for their first conference road game at 3 p.m. Head Coach Chris Dugan gave his thoughts on his team's win.

"Every win is a good win," he said. "It got really ugly at the end. We where up 20, cleared out the bench, some guys stopped playing, its frustrating. You don't play the score you play yourself. And you have to work on things you need to do, and we are not a very deep team and some of those guys get reps. Those reps matter. They want to play an important time they have to show me."

Cerro Coso had four players, three starters, score in double digits led by the 17 points by Nate Jackson. Jordan Howard had 16 points, Destin Jenkins had 15 off the bench, and Adam Claybourne Jr. added 11 points. As a team they shot the ball 43.8 percent, 47.4 percent from the three point line, and 71.4 percent from the charity stripe. They grabbed 28 rebounds, had 15 assists, 13 steals, one block, and committed only nine turnovers in the win.

The game began with Victor Valley scoring first on a three and Cerro Coso responded scoring the next six points a layup from Jalen Williams, a layup from Sincere Edwards, and a layup from Claybourne. The Rams scored in the paint to stop the run, and Jackson scored on a layup and Claybourne scored on a contested layup to lead 10-5. The two teams went back and forth until the Coyotes went on an 11-0 run started by a three from Howard to lead 23-16. Jackson scored the next five points with a three and hitting both his free throws, Edwards scored both his free throws, and Darnell Turner Jr. hit one of two free throws for a 31-16 lead. But Victor Valley went on its own 11-0 run cutting the lead to 31-27 until Jenkins hit a layup with 4:20 left in the half. Cerro Coso went on to close the final three minutes with a 13-0 run with Jenkins, Jackson, and Howard all hitting a three, Edwards hitting both his free throws, and Jackson scoring on a reverse layup for a 48-31 lead.

The second half started with the Rams scoring the first basket on a jump shot and the Coyotes responding with Williams hitting one of two free throws. Leading 49-33, the visitors scored the next four points until Howard hit a contested fadeaway jump shot from the elbow for a 51-37 lead. The Coyotes began to take control of the game and forced Victor Valley to play its tempo, and keep them from having any uncontested shots. With 5:14 left in the game the Coyotes led 77-56 after Turner hit one of two free throws. From there the Rams went on a run cutting the Coyotes lead to 77-61 off clumsy turnovers from the home team. Turner ended the cold run when he was fouled and scored a layup, but missed the free throw to lead 79-61. Victor Valley went on to score on a three and layup before Claybourne scored on a layup off an offensive rebound to lead 81-66 with 3:36 left on the clock. Victor Valley went on a 10-0 run cutting the Coyotes lead to 81-76, but Williams hit both his free throws to give the Coyotes a seven point cushion. With 10 seconds left on the clock, Jackson hit two free throws to end the Rams chance of stealing the win and securing an 85-76 home win.

Dugan called the final five minutes very frustrating as his team allowed the Rams to almost erase a 20 point lead. It is something that his team has seen and done before, but there was some good before the final five minutes.

"We erased a 10 point lead against Potterville in 50 seconds so you play until the very end. A win is a win, no matter what," the Coyotes coach said. "I get frustrated sometimes but again if you give me your best effort, play as hard as possible is all I care about. And we did not give our best effort and play hard the last five minutes.

"For about 15 minutes it was good. Guys where moving the ball, guys where making shots, guys where sharing it, guys where running the court, guys where making plays, and it was nice. We have been in a pretty good groove since we have been home, have all our guys back, we are playing good. Guys have accepted their roles and that is really important in knowing your role, accepting your role, and then thriving in your role. Some guys where battling in accepting and thriving in their roles until now they are."

Going into the next game on the road against Palo Verde, Dugan spoke on what he wants to see from his team.

"Have to win on the road. We have struggled to win on the road. We are 1-5 and we have to do it," he said. "The formula that you want to do is you want to win every game at home and 500 on the road, and that is a 12-4 year. Great energy, be ready to play, just have to get after it."

Cerro Coso visits Palo Verde on Saturday with tip off at 3 p.m.