Coyotes finish season with a win, open playoff on the road

Eduardo Miranda

The Daily Independent

It was Sophomore Night for the Cerro Coso men's basketball team when it hosted Barstow in the final Inland Empire Athletic Conference match of the season. The Coyotes played shorthanded for the third straight game but were able to control the boards in defeating the Vikings 74-47 to end conference play with a 13-3 record for third place (19-9 overall).

"Great win. It was a great win. Game 28 from game one for the first 10, man it was ugly, but that game wasn't as ugly," said head coach Chris Dugan on the win. "I thought we did better. We did a good job on transaction, shared the ball, played hard, we did the things we needed to. We got a dub, 19 wins as a team, we have gotten better."

As a team the Coyotes won four categories over the Vikings. They won the rebound battle 44-32, but lost offensive rebounds 10-9, won assists 15-12, steals 13-8, and blocks 9-4. But the Coyotes lost the turnover battle 12-2.

Trent Gordon led Cerro Coso with a double-double of 32 points and 14 rebounds with five on the offensive board and three blocks. Gavin Flowers just missed out on a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds and five blocks. Jason Morris had 10 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Off the bench, Tzahari Trevino had nine points with five rebounds and a team-high four assists and three steals.

The Coyotes used an early 21-14 run to start the game before the home team called the first timeout of the game. During the run, Gordon had two layups and two dunks with two assists as he controlled the paint. Jami Hagger had two threes and made one of two free throws, and Morris made two jump shots. After the timeout, Jon Leggett made a jump shot and Flowers scored a layup after grabbing the offensive rebound, but the Vikings scored to cut the lead to 25-18 going into a Barstow timeout.

Following the timeout, Cerro Coso went on a 7-0 run beginning with Gordon scoring a layup on a pass from Hagger. Gordon scored a layup after grabbing the offensive rebound and Trevino finished the run with a corner three on a pass from Leggett. The Coyotes went into halftime with a 34-24 lead.

At halftime, Cerro Coso held its Sophomore Night celebrating the contributions of four players: Trent Gordon, Gavin Flowers, Jason Morris, and Jon Leggett. The players were brought out to the middle of the court and given a photo of their time with the Coyotes and received applause from the fans in attendance.

The second half had the Coyotes continue to dominate in the paint through Gordon and Flowers. They gave Cerro Coso either a layup, which Gordon did twice after winning the offensive rebound on back-to-back possessions, or create second and third chances. That led to a timeout with 13 minutes left and the Coyotes leading 42-33. Coming out of the timeout, the Coyotes defense took over the game and held the Vikings scoreless for the next five minutes, until Barstow scored two free throws with six minutes left in the game.

During the five minutes, Cerro Coso held Barstow to one-and-done on multiple occasions and had multiple blocks by Flowers and Gordon, and Leggett added one. The defense forced turnovers and made the Vikings take contested or altered shots. And on the offensive side, The Coyotes attacked the paint and controlled the board. They went 3-for-5 from the free-throw line and had five layups or dunks including an alley-oop from Trevino to Flowers. That helped secure the Coyotes' 74-47 home win over Barstow.

Dugan said on his team holding Barstow scoreless for five minutes, "we have imposed our will on teams all year. In a sense, just weighing on guys, offensive rebounds in a sense, we call it taking guys to deep water. We can tread water all day. We can play really slow, and these guys can't do it; not a lot of teams can. We take you out to deep water, we leave you there, and we just swim around you until you make a mistake and we capitalize on that."

It wasn't the only praise the Coyotes coach had. He praised the performance of Flowers and Gordon for dominating the boards.

"Gavin Flowers, the jump he has made since he was inserted into the lineup due to injury has been phenomenal," Dugan said. "Trent is Trent, he is just an animal. If he didn't play with Anthony Edouard, he would be averaging 12 to 15 rebounds a game. But Gavin coming in and stepping in, he has done an amazing of a job to come in just plug-and-play."

Cerro Coso secured third place in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference to earn another playoff appearance. In the official playoff bracket, Cerro Coso is seeded 23rd and is set to visit Cypress in the first round on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and looking ahead Dugan spoke on his advice to his team for the playoff and playing on the road.

"One more day, just give me one more day," he said. "I get them for three more days and on Wednesday night give me one more day. If they want to be a team and want to make a run, it's fun. I have grown to enjoy this team. It's very unique and there have been some headaches throughout the way, but I have grown to enjoy this team.

"Anytime, anywhere, anyone. Does not matter."