Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
After defeating LA Pierce and Moorpark at the Moorpark Tournament to start the season, the Cerro Coso basketball team hosted LA Southwest in its season home opener. The Coyotes turned around an ugly first half performance for a 69-55 comeback win over the Cougars.
"Good tough gritty win," said Head Coach Chris Dugan on his team's performance. "We did not play well in the first half. We didn't shoot the ball well at all. I think we gave up 31 points in the first half and we held them to 24 in the second half, so that was nice to see. We weren't tough enough in the first half and then we answered that bell in the second half."
The Coyotes offense struggled against the Cougars' height in the first 20 minutes but came out more aggressive in the second half to make it become a non-factor. They finished the game shooting 38.8 percent from the field, 16 percent from behind the arc, and 72.2 percent from the charity stripe. The defense held the visitors to 36 percent shooting, 42 percent from the three-point line, and 50 percent from the free throw line.
Cerro Coso won the turnover battle 14-17 and the steals battle 10-2. Both teams had two blocks each but the Coyotes lost the other battles. They were out-rebounded 36-35 and 13-9 in assists, with much of the advantage coming in the first half for the Cougars. Dugan spoke on the change in the second half that led to the win.
"It was 0 X's and O's. We spent seven minutes talking about being tougher, rebounding, and just competing," he said. "There was nothing I drew up on the board, no special plays, it was nothing else but those guys doing it which was nice to see."
The Coyotes went to the locker room trailing 31-28 at the half, after making a run that saw them go up 26-23. The entire first half, saw a Coyotes team that struggled on how to attack the height in the paint and took too many contested shots instead of running the offense to create chances. And when they did run the offense, the Coyotes got good locks from the field. The defense led to many easy buckets in transition from steals.
The second half saw a better performance both offensively and defensively from the Coyotes. The home team became more aggressive in attacking the paint and going at the height of LA Southwest. This resulted in them going to the free throw line more often than the first half. That added to the defensive performance as the Coyotes halfcourt offense were able to set up and force the visitors into a bad look late in the shot clock and even get the 24 second violation, a steal, or block. The team did do a better job of rebounding as a whole as all five fought for the rebound, and when they gave up an offensive rebound the defense was there to keep the Cougars from getting an easy putback and forced to reset its offense from the top of the key.
The Coyotes had a many show up for the home opener and Dugan was pleased for the attendance, but he also wants to see more people come out to watch the team as they look to qualify for the playoff for a third straight year.
"We need more people. We need more than this and there was a good amount of people. But there should be more. We need more people, publish it, Facebook, whatever we need to do this place should be packed with how athletic we are and how many games we have won over the last three years," he said. "We are in a good spot and we are going to start pushing this thing into a good place. We got Casey's to sponsor us, we are doing the camps, we are doing the fifth-grade leagues. We just need to snowball this thing and the guys really deserve it."
The Coyotes continue their season with a three-game road trip beginning Saturday at Santa Barbara at 2 p.m. They then travel to San Diego Mesa on Friday at 4 p.m. and finish at Cuesta at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, November 22nd.
The first half began with the Cougars scoring the first points 2:30 minutes had come off the clock with a layup. The Coyotes tied the game on Jason Morris layup off a steal. A Destin Jenkins putback layup from an offensive rebound gave the Coyotes a 4-2 lead. The Cougars took a 5-4 lead until Joshua Escheik hit a long two-pointer for a 6-5 lead. But the visitors went on a 7-0 run until a three from Eddie Garner cut the deficit to three at 12-9. The Cougars answered back with a three and Darnell Turner Jr. hit a fadeaway to start an 8-0 run for the Coyotes that included a putback layup from Sincere Edwards and a fastbreak dunk and shot from the elbow from Turner for a 17-15 lead.
Trent Gordon scored on a dunk to extend the lead to 19-17 and Turner grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled and scored. He hit the free throw to give the Coyotes a 24-19 lead. But LA Southwest come back cutting the lead to a point until Edwards scored on a layup to extend the lead to 26-23. The final four minutes of the game saw the Coyotes held to two points from Edwards at the free throw line and the Cougars began to dominate in the paint and get second chances. The visitors went into the half leading 31-28.
The second half began with the Cougars scoring the first points, a three-pointer, but the Coyotes responded with Edwards driving into the paint and getting fouled. He went one-for-two at the line as the team trailed 34-29. The Cougars scored on the next possession and Edwards was fouled and hit both free throws. After the Cougars went one-for-two from the free throw line, Malachi Greenwood hit an open jump shot to cut the deficit to 39-33. The Cougars scored a point at the line and the Coyotes went on a 6-0 run with Turner scoring two from the free throw line and scoring on a layup, and Edwards going one-for-two at the charity stripe and hitting a three for a 41-40 lead.
LA Southwest tied the game at 41-41 but the Coyotes retook the lead on Greenwich's fadeaway jumper from the baseline. Edwards layup and Jakwon Morris floater gave Cerro Coso a 47-41 lead, which they never gave up. The Cougars scored on their next possession and the Coyotes responded with Edwards scoring on a layup and a reverse layup from Morris saw the lead go up 51-43 after two defensive stops. The Cougars went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 51-48, and the Coyotes kept their cool to go on a 7-0 run with Edwards scoring two from the free throw line, a three from Jenkins, and a layup from Edwards for the Coyotes first double-digit lead at 58-48.
The Coyotes next bucket came from Jenkins at the free throw line after a double foul called by the referees. The Coyotes continued to run their offense and Turner benefited with a fadeaway jump shot for a 61-52 lead. Greenwich hit a three from the top of the key for a 64-53 lead and Garner hit one of two free throws for a 65-55 lead with 1:50 left in the game. Edwards scored on a layup to extend the lead to 67-55 and Turner closed the game with a fastbreak dunk with 52 seconds left and a 69-55 lead.