The Cerro Coso men's basketball program opened its season at home hosting San Diego Mesa College on Friday night. The Coyotes came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat the Olympians 82-77 behind a better second half offensive and defensive performance. Cerro Coso host Santa Barbara Community College in the back end of a back to back and host Fullerton College on Monday. Coyotes Head Coach Chris Dugan spoke on his team's comeback win over San Diego Mesa College.
"It showed some grit, some great toughness, and its always how tough are guys going to be. I have been here five years and that was a good win," he said. "Grinding it out, down 10, had to get some offensive rebounds, it felt good."
Adam Claybourne Jr. led the Coyotes with a double-double 22 points and 10 rebounds with six on the offensive end. Nate Jackson had 21 points and Jalen Williams had 11 points. Sincere Edwards led the team on the boards with 11 with nine on the defensive glass and just missed out on a double-double with eight points. Jackson, Edwards, Claybourne, Williams, and Darnell Turner Jr. all had two assists.
The Coyotes went up against a good shooting team in the Olympians, the team hit five three-pointers in the first half both contested and uncontested. For much of the first half the two teams were evenly matched and the home team kept the game close. Cerro Coso had a 10-0 run with three-pointers from Jackson and Destin Jenkins and a offensive put back and a steal with an and-one layup from Claybourne to lead 19-14 after trailing 11-14. But the lead didn't last long with San Diego Mesa storming back and to tie the game at 25-25 on a three-pointer. During the Mesa run, Cerro Coso's offense went cold as multiple players missed layups and open shots from the perimeter. In the final two minutes of the first half, the Coyotes cut the deficit to three and four points but could never tie or retake the lead. Mesa used its shooting to open the Coyotes defense to find a driving lane or an open shooter, and with the sloppy turnovers and fouls committed by the Coyotes, the lead ballooned to 10 points when the buzzer went off. Cerro Coso went into the locker room trailing 45-35.
Cerro Coso made two major adjustments in the second half, the team was aggressive on the offensive board and the defense adjusted to take the three-point shooting away from the Olympians. Those adjustments paid off with the Coyotes opening the second half with a 7-1 run that included three forced turnovers on San Diego Mesa.
"We are not a great jump shooting team so we have to manufacture points. We have some guys who are good offensive rebounders and put up on the glass," Dugan said about the team crashing the board and adjusting to taking away the three-point shot. "We had some height advantages as we are not big but we are also not small, just grabbed some key offensive rebounds. Adam Claybourne was huge, he grabbed a couple. Sincere (Edwards) he grabbed and grinded it out.
"We did a better job of getting a hand up. They are good and can shoot it. Just did a better job of closing the bodies and also we gave up 45 at half and the first 9-10 minutes of the game we gave up 11 points. That's were we made up and guys started defending and sliding their feet."
In under four minutes the 10 point deficit was cut to four, 46-42, after an offensive rebound and layup by the Coyotes. The Olympians scored a three to stop the run but the Coyotes and their fans were back in the game, and with 12:16 left to play the game was tied at 57-57 after an and-one layup by Claybourne. The rest of the half was both teams trading offensive plays and defensive stops. The Coyotes and Olympians each found themselves with the lead at one point and came from behind to tie the game. With 2:30 left in the game, the Coyotes trailed 77-75 after the Olympians were given an and-one on a blocking foul. The Coyotes could not score on their next possession but the defense stepped up and forced a shot clock violation. Edwards tied the game with a layup and an and-one from Williams put the Coyotes ahead 80-77. The Coyotes defense forced the Olympians into a contested jump shot, secured the rebound, and Claybourne scored a layup to secure the win with 15 seconds left in the game.
With the win the Coyotes (1-0) look forward to their second game hosting Santa Barbara Community College in their first back to back of the season, and host Fullerton College on Monday. Dugan spoke on getting the first win in the season home opener and playing back to back games and three in four days.
"Its good to get the monkey off your back and obviously it feels good. The taste from our last season being on the court and getting blown out, its nice getting a win," the Coyotes said. "The guys enjoy it and the new guys are understanding how hard it is to compete. We talk about margin of error and our margin of error is not big so possession, turning the ball over, executing, not fouling, all those things really matter. We almost have to play perfect sometimes to win games and we found a way to do that.
"You have to turn right back around. Its almost like a tournament. We actually have three games in four days and for us yo get home games it matters and the way it worked out. Quick turnaround and guys have to be ready to go. We will probably go deeper into the bench some guys who didn't get to run last night and try to get some guys a little bit less run. Jordan Howard is probably my most talented and best player, and he was dealing with cramping issues. Hopefully he can turnaround really quickly and be ready to go. Because we need everyone. We only have nine guys and we really only have eight, I picked up a baseball guy who was a good high school player so just have to grind it out."