Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
The Raymond McCue Pavilion and Coyotes men's basketball fans welcomed the Victor Valley Rams for an Inland Empire Athletic Conference matchup. Cerro Coso currently sits in third place and the final playoff spot trailing undefeated Chaffey and San Bernardino Valley. The Coyotes held off a very scrappy Victor Valley squad for an 82-78 win.
"We were sleep walking all night. We didn't defend, we weren't engaged, we played three games in five days. I don't know how they do it in the NBA, but unengaged," said head coach Chris Dugan on his team's performance against the Rams.
The Coyotes finished with three players scoring in double digits led by Trent Gordon with a double-double of 29 points and 14 rebounds. He had five offensive rebounds and two assists. Jon Leggett had 17 points, five assists, two steals, and three rebounds. Jason Morris had 16 points with six rebounds, three steals, and an assist.
The team finished shooting 56.1% from the field, 33.3% from the three-point line, and 68.2% from the free-throw line. The Coyotes had 30 rebounds with 10 on the offensive glass, 11 assists, and six steals, but turned the ball over nine times.
The Coyotes and Rams played an even game in the first half with the visitors taking a 42-38 lead into the half. In just the first half there were seven lead changes and four ties. Gordon began the half with a hook shot and layup to tie the game twice, and a free throw by Jami Hagger gave the Coyotes an early 5-4 lead. But the Rams retook and extended the lead until Morris hit a hook shot and Leggett hit a corner three-pointer, cutting the deficit to 11-10.
A layup from Tzahari Trevino cut the lead to one, 19-18, and a layup by Gordon gave the Coyotes a 20-19 lead. But the visitors retook scoring the next four points until Leggett hit a floater down the paint to cut the deficit to one. Morris hit a layup to tie the game at 28-28, forcing a timeout by Victor Valley. The Rams scored a layup to retake the lead and Morris hit a free throw to cut it to one, 30-29. A layup by Trevino tied the game at 33-33. Trevino hit a free throw, Leggett made a layup, and Gordon scored on putback that beat the buzzer.
The second half had only one tie and five lead changes with the last happening with 6:08 left in the game. The first seven minutes, the Rams could afford to trade baskets with the home team. But the Coyotes made a couple of stops and a jump shot from Morris gave them a 58-57 lead, but on the ensuing play the visitors retook the lead forcing Dugan to call a timeout. Morris scored a layup to retake the lead at 60-59, but the visitors retook it on the ensuing possession. With 7:48 left, Cerro Coso called a timeout trailing 68-66.
Coming out of the timeout, the Rams scored on a jump shot and Edouard hit a layup to cut the deficit to two. Leggett made a free throw after a stop and cut the Rams' lead to one, 70-69. With 6:08 left, the home team took the lead on a layup by Edouard, and then tied the game at 72-72 on a free throw with 5:00 on the clock. Leggett found Gordon for an alley-oop to give the home team a 74-72 lead that brought the fans out of their seats and life back to the pavilion.
Morris hit a jumper and after a Rams basket, Gordon hit both his free throws for a 78-74 lead. After the Rams scored, Leggett hit a three-pointer forcing a Rams timeout with an 81-76 lead. Victor Valley scored after the timeout and Edouard hit one of two from the free-throw line for an 82-78 lead with 15 seconds left. The Coyotes kept the Rams from scoring in the final seconds of the game.
Dugan praised the rebounding of his team but was critical of the team's lack of urgency on the defensive end. He said, "it's huge for us, but if we don't defend, we have no chance. Because we don't shoot the three well so you play the numbers game. We can shoot 50% from the field but if we are not defending and getting stops, we have no chance. There is no chance. We are lucky Trent is just an animal and who he is."
Cerro Coso continues conference play visiting Chaffey on Saturday. The Coyotes return home to host Copper Mountain on Wednesday and then are off for a week until they visit Desert on Wednesday, Feb. 12. With six games left, the Coyotes are in position to make another playoff appearance.
Dugan said on his message to his team for the final six games, "we had a long conversation about valuing time. Valuing time, value 28 times in a year you have to get up and play, value practice, because an 18- to 22-year-old kid, you don't value time; you think you have it. My message was you don't have to like me. I'm tough, but you should do it for your teammates. You should enjoy the grind and the process. We just didn't do that."