Eduardo Miranda

The Daily Independent

Cerro Coso men's basketball took to the hardwood coming off the Christmas and New Year's break with an Inland Empire Athletic Conference game against Copper Mountain. The Coyotes were looking to snap a two-game conference losing streak at home, but the Fighting Cacti scouted well and perfectly executed their game plan in handing the Coyotes a 60-51 loss in one of the worst games this season for Cerro Coso.

Cerro Coso's offense finished the game shooting 35.2% on 54 attempts. The Coyotes shot 30.4% from the three-point line on 23 attempts and 85.7% from the free-throw line on seven attempts. The defense held Copper Mountain to 41.4% from the field on 58 attempts, 26.1% from the three-point line on 23 attempts, and 50% from the free-throw line on 12 attempts.

The Coyotes only won in two categories against the Fighting Cacti: rebounds and blocks. The Coyotes outrebounded the Fighting Cacti 40 to 30 in total rebounds and 11 to eight on the offensive glass. They won blocking three to zero, but lost in every other category. The Coyotes lost assists 16 to 11, steals 10 to five, and turnovers eight to 18.

Lance Bailey Jr. led the team in scoring as the sole Coyote to score in double digits with 24 points. Ade Daramola led the team in rebounding with nine. Demarris Day had a team-high five assists. Bailey, Issiakoi Aminou, Arki Thornton Jr., Terrence Sims Jr., and Daramola all had a steal. Idris Mukendi, Aminou, and Thornton all had a block.

All season, Cerro Coso's offense has been dictated on the ability to grab rebounds and score in transition, pound the paint in the halfcourt offense, and drive the lanes for a layup or a kickout to an open shooter. In the first half, Copper Mountain took all of that away from the Coyotes, which caused the home team to struggle and forced them to take contested shots from the perimeter late in the shot clock, or turn the ball over trying to get past multiple defenders.

The Fighting Cacti's defense forced the Coyotes to struggle in the first half offensively, scoring only 24 points as they missed many contested and open shots from the perimeter. And in the lane when the Coyotes could attack the basket, the ball rolled off the rim for multiple missed layups. On the defensive end, the Coyotes' zone defense struggled when the ball was passed to the shooter in the middle as the Coyotes big were slow to close out on an easy jump shot. Cerro Coso went into the half trailing 31-24.

In the second half, the Coyote offense began to be more aggressive in attacking the lane and taking shots when open. But the Coyotes continued to miss layups and putbacks from offensive rebounds and had more turnovers in the second half. The offense continued to struggle early with a minute or two coming off the clock between each made bucket, leaving the home team trailing 34-26 after three minutes.

But Bailey came to life in the second half and was involved in the five consecutive scoring plays for the Coyotes. He hit a jump shot and then a three-pointer on passes from Marc Vincent. He beat the visiting defense to score a layup, found Day for a three, and then Day found him for a corner three to cut the deficit to 51-39.

The problem during the run for the Coyotes, though, was that after making multiple defensive stops, they would turn the ball over in transition and give the opponent an easy bucket. Cerro Coso made a final push with 6:50 left and the home team was able to get points from Thornton, Vincent, and Bailey, but the defensive struggles kept them from getting the deficit to under double digits until there were just six seconds left in the game.

The first half began with Copper Mountain hitting a three-pointer, and Cerro Coso responded with Aminou making a layup on a pass from Bailey. The Coyotes took a two-point lead on a three from Bailey on a pass from Day and then extended the lead after Matthews was fouled on a putback from an offensive rebound. He made both his free throws for a 7-3 lead.

But the visitors stormed back on a 6-0 run to retake the lead until Bailey was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws. That led to a Coyotes timeout with a 10-9 lead, but the Coyotes came out cold for the next three minutes until Sims hit a contested floater in the paint to cut the deficit to 15-12. Bailey forced the defense to collapse on him and he found Daramola for a three as the shot clock expired to tie the game at 15-15 and force the Fighting Cacti to call a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, the Coyote offense went cold for a four-minute span that allowed the visitors to go on a 9-0 run until Vincent hit a contested jump shot. The Coyote offense continued to struggle with many missed jump shots, missed layups, and turnovers during another three-minute span until Bailey hit a jump shot on a pass from Daramola cutting the deficit to 29-19. Thorton made a jump shot and made the free throw to finish the three-point play, and Daramola made a fadeaway jump shot as time expired to go into the half trailing 31-24.

The second half began with the Coyotes getting a layup from Sims cutting the deficit to five. But the offense struggled for three minutes until Bailey hit a jump shot on a pass from Vincent cutting the deficit to 35-28. After a three from Copper Mountain, Dugan called a timeout, and coming out of the timeout Bailey hit a three on a pass from Vincent. After a three from Copper Mountain, Bailey beat the visiting defense for a layup.

After multiple Cerro Coso turnovers, Bailey found Day for a three-pointer and after two straight Fighting Cacti buckets Day found Bailey for a corner three. Cerro Coso trailed 51-39 with eight minutes left in the game. After another 4-0 run by the visitors, Thornton grabbed the offensive rebound and scored on the putback. Vincent followed that with an offensive rebound and a putback, cutting the deficit to 55-43.

But the offense again had another three-minute stretch of missed jump shots and layups until Day found Bailey twice for threes to cut the deficit to 60-49 with 1:23 left in the game. Cerro Coso's final points came from Thornton grabbing the offensive rebound and making the putback, but he missed the and-one free throw.

Head coach Chris Dugan was unavailable after the game for comments. Cerro Coso (4-12, 1-3) continues Inland Empire Athletic Conference play at Desert on Saturday with tip-off at 3 p.m. The Coyotes return home on Jan. 14 hosting Mt. San Jacinto at 6 p.m.