Shorthanded Coyotes hold off Tigers in preseason finale win

Eduardo Miranda

The Daily Independent

The Cerro Coso men's basketball team, after playing its last four games on the road, returned home to host Reedley with a chance to snap a three-game losing streak in its final preseason game. The Coyotes went into the game very shorthanded with only six players suiting up due to injuries, but despite this, the Coyotes held off a late run from the Tigers to hold onto a 65-62 win.

"Just win, and that is exactly what we did. It doesn't matter how we win – pretty or ugly – just win, and we found a way," said Coyotes head coach Chris Dugan on the win. "Analogy being we are in the storm, we are in the thick of it, we are in a boat together, we don't know where we are going, and we are in a storm. We banded together. Down a couple of guys to injuries, some inter-team dynamics, and found a way to come together. That is a team win right there."

With only six players in uniform the Coyotes had to be careful on both ends of the court and avoid getting into early foul trouble. This meant the Coyotes had to run Dugan's offense and defense almost to perfection, and for the most part in the first half they did, which led to a 30-21 halftime lead.

With 11:58 on the clock, the Coyotes went on a 13-0 run that began with Jason Morris hitting a jump shot for a 14-10 lead. Morris than found Trent Gordon under the basket for a layup. After a Cerro Coso timeout, Gordon found Morris for a three-pointer. On a second-chance opportunity, Morris scored on a layup, which forced Reedley to call a timeout. After the timeout, Gordon went to the free-throw line and scored both to cap the 13-0 run and give the home team a 23-14 lead.

The second half began with the Coyotes continuing to play strong offense and defense. The home team early on attacked the paint with layups for Gordon, Anthony Edouard, and Jami Hagger. The defense forced turnovers and helped build a 13-point lead. With five minutes left in the game, Morris was fouled while scoring a layup and made the three-point play. Cerro Coso led 61-51 and Reedley called a timeout.

That was the last basket scored by the Coyotes in open play. Cerro Coso scored its final four points from the free-throw line, where they went 4-for-8 in the final four minutes. Hagger went 1-for-2 for a 62-54 lead, but on the ensuing Tigers possession, he made a simple touch foul in the paint and fouled out. Edouard went to the free-throw line and hit one for a 63-56 lead, and then Jason Bernabe was hit with a technical foul with 43 seconds left in the game. After a Tigers timeout and free throws, the Coyotes led 63-62.

Gordon was fouled on the next possession, and he hit one of two from the charity stripe for a 64-62 lead with 11 seconds left on the clock. Reedley missed an open look, and Gordon grabbed the rebound and was fouled with two seconds left. He hit one of two for a 65-62 lead, and the Coyotes defense held the Tigers in the final two seconds from getting a shot off to hold onto the lead.

The win comes before the Coyotes begin Inland Empire Athletic Conference hosting Palo Verde on Wednesday with tipoff at 7 p.m. Dugan called the win big for the team and said, "we finished 6-6, and that is kind of what I thought we were going to go. Going into Wednesday, hopefully some guys will get healthy and we get some guys back, and do the things we need to do.

"We always talk about only us, and that's our motto. Only us. This is the first time we ever truly bought into it and it showed in a win like this. That's a tough gritty win right there, and I'm very proud of this team tonight and the way they performed."