Coyotes comeback falls short against Vaqueros

Eduardo Miranda

The Daily Independent

After opening the season with four games on the road including two at the Skip Robinson Classic, the Cerro Coso men's basketball team returned home to host Santa Barbara City College in the first game of a five-game homestand.

After sloppy play for the first 30 minutes, the Coyotes made a ferocious comeback in the final 10 minutes to erase a 20-point deficit. With three seconds left in the game, Demarris Day took a half-court shot to try to tie the game, but the shot was short and Cerro Coso fell to Santa Barbara 75-72.

"If we would have played as hard as we did for the last 10 minutes, we would have been in a different spot," said head coach Chris Dugan on his team's performance.

The Coyotes finished shooting 61.9% from the field on 26 of 42 shots, 25% from behind the three-point line on three of 12 shots, and 68% from the free-throw line on 17 of 25 attempts. They had 28 rebounds with 20 defensive boards, 13 assists, and two steals.

Jay Matthews led the team with 21 points off the bench with four rebounds and a steal. Terrance Sims Jr., had 14 points, five rebounds, and a steal. Day had 12 points, four rebounds, and a team-high seven assists. Issiakoi Aminou had 11 points.

With 10:44 left in the game, the Coyotes were down by 20 points, 56-36, until Matthews made a layup on a pass from Lance Bailey Jr. From that point forward, the Coyotes picked up their intensity that was lacking for the first 30 minutes, began to rotate on the defense, and became aggressive on the offense by driving the ball and attacking the paint.

That led to Aminou getting an easy layup on a pass from Day, forcing the visitors to call a timeout. Matthews attacked the paint, scored the layup, and finished the and-one, cutting the deficit to 58-43. But the Vaqueros did not go away as they responded with a three-pointer before calling a timeout with a 61-43 lead.

Out of the timeout, Idris Mukendi scored an easy layup on a pass from Matthews. On the ensuing possession, Sims scored a layup on a lead pass from Matthews and was fouled. He finished the and-one to cut the deficit to 61-48. After Santa Barbara scored, Bailey hit a midrange jumper from the elbow. That led to a Coyotes timeout trailing 63-50.

Cerro Coso responded to another Santa Barbara layup with a contested midrange jump shot from Matthews. Day was fouled in the paint and made both of his free throws, cutting the deficit to 66-54. After the visitors scored, Day hit a floater in the paint and followed that making two free throws to cut the deficit to 10, 68-58. Day went back to the free-throw line and hit one of two to cut the deficit to only nine points.

Day responded to a three from Santa Barbara with a three of his own on a pass from Bailey Jr. That led to a timeout from the Coyotes with 4:50 left in the game. After a defensive stop, Matthews hit a layup forcing a Santa Barbara timeout. Out of the timeout, Mukendi missed both his free throws, but Matthews was fouled and made both to cut the deficit to 71-66.

Matthews cut the deficit to five points after grabbing an offensive rebound and making a reverse layup. The Coyotes defense followed that by forcing a 10-second violation on Santa Barbara with a full court press. Sims was fouled but missed his free throws, and after the Vaqueros scored he made a contested layup. That forced Santa Barbara to call a timeout with a 73-70 lead over the Coyotes with 32 seconds left in the game. With four seconds left, Bailey Jr. hit a step back long two-pointer from the corner to cut the deficit to one, 73-72.

Cerro Coso fouled on the in-bound play and the Santa Barbara player made both free throws. With no timeouts left, Cerro Coso tried to roll the ball to Day but he was forced to grab it after pressure from Santa Barbara and his last-second heave was short.

Dugan spoke on the push his team made in the final 10 minutes.

"It really starts with doing it at practice. We don't do it as a group at practice. We don't go really hard. And it shows in the game when you try to turn the switch on and they didn't do it," he said.

Before the final 10 minutes, the Coyotes struggled against the Vaqueros' offense and defense. The visiting offense ran plenty of off-ball screens to free shooters in the corner or to get an easy look in the post. Many of the free looks also came on the Coyote defense not making the rotation or being slow on the rotation. When the Vaqueros missed a shot, they beat the Coyotes to the offensive rebound – finished with seven – to not only rest the offense but on most chances scored. The Coyotes on many occasions were caught ball watching or unable to secure the rebound as it was ripped from their hands.

The Coyotes offense finished with 13 turnovers with many coming on the team making bad passes trying to break through the Santa Barbara full court press. But not all the turnovers came from the press — other times the Coyotes were lazy and mishandled the ball, giving away possession. When they did not turn the ball over, the Coyotes struggled to get into their offense and were forced late into the shot clock resulting a Coyote trying to beat two defenders.

Dugan said on his team's struggle with turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds, "I think it starts at the day-to-day practice fixing the things. It's not rocket science; it's been the same things this program has always been about and we don't do those things."

Even though his team erased a 20-point deficit, Dugan said there is nothing to be proud of in the loss. There is no honor in losing or nothing positive from it. They play to win, and one thing they need to do to earn a win is be consistent, but that starts in practice.

"You like to look at the positives of guys playing hard, but until we correct those things in a day-to-day basis we are going to struggle," he said.

Dugan does hope his players take one thing from the loss. He said, "you would hope that they figure out that good things happen when we play hard. Hopefully they hang their hats on that."

Cerro Coso continues its homestand hosting Antelope Valley College on Tuesday with tip-off at 5 p.m. The Coyotes host the Coso Classic beginning on Saturday with three games being played, beginning with Victor Valley against Sequoias at 3 p.m., Pal Verde against Mira Costa at 5 p.m., and the Coyotes closing the first day hosting Pasadena City at 7 p.m. The Coso Classic ends on Sunday with Pasadena City facing Palo Verde at noon, Mira Costa against Victor Valley at 2 p.m., and the Coyotes hosting Sequoias at 4 p.m. The final home game of the homestand is Dec. 2 against LA Southwest at 5 p.m.