Cerro Coso Gym, fans, and the Coyotes welcomed the California Community College Athletic Association South Region preseason No. 1 ranked team Fullerton College on Monday night. The Coyotes fell to the Hornets 95-61 to end their three game homestand. Cerro Coso returns to the hardwood on Friday, November 18th when the Coyotes visit Moorpark Raiders. Tip off is 5 p.m.
Following the loss to the Hornets, Cerro Coso Head Coach Chris Dugan gave his thoughts on his team's performance against the No. 1 ranked team in the South Region.
"Second half was much better. I thought guys competed. I just thought the energy and opportunity there is very few chances you get to play the No. 1 team in SoCal, and we just were not good enough or ready for that challenge," he said.
The Coyotes ended the game with three players scoring in double figures led by Jordan Howard with 19 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Sincere Edwards had 16 points, team high seven boards, three steals, and a team high four blocks. Destin Jenkins added 11 points, team high seven rebounds, and a steal off the bench.
"Its a humbling experience. I have been telling the guys that we need to go harder, we need to compete daily at practice, when you don't do those things every single day you can't turn them on in a game. If they were that good and guys were able to flip that switch they wouldn't be at Cerro Coso they would be somewhere else," Dugan said on what his players should take from playing the No. 1 ranked team. "Its important those daily things, those daily habits. We always say our philosophy we want to play hard , play smart, play together and we did not do any of those things tonight."
The Coyotes struggled against the Hornets on both ends of the court. Dugan said the Hornets height hurt his team on the offensive end because they struggled to shot the ball, Cerro Coso finished with a shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from behind the three point line. His team needs to be strong around the rim and be patient when they struggle to shoot the ball or have the size to bully players in the paint. He did give credit to the physicality of Fullerton College's defense in his team's poor shooting as they are one of the best defensive teams in the state.
The Coyotes defense struggled against the Hornets offense and Dugan added they failed to understand the scouting report on their opponent. The Coyotes defense shot 63.8 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from the three point line. The Coyotes coach said on many possessions his players did not remember the scouting report and ended up not following what the repot said to do when the Hornets ran plays. Dugan added they only had one day to prepare for the No. 1 ranked team, and he wishes they had more time to prepare but when the team is not competing you are in trouble regardless of how much time you have to prepare.
The loss is the first in the season for Cerro Coso who goes 2-1 in its three game homestand. Dugan said its a good start to the season but knows there is plenty of room to improve until they start playing league games.
"I think its a good barometer of kind of where we are at. Its still really early, we want to peak when we get to December 14th which is our first league game. And not peak but start getting to the top of mountain, which is really important," he said. "It lets the guys know when you play a good team you have to be on your game, you have to compete, you have to play together, you have to know the scout, and there is a team in our league who is like that. San Bernardino is that caliber of team. You have to come ready and they will put up 120 on you. It is understanding how hard to play, how hard to compete, how had to play together, and now it is what do we do from that. As a coach we will do it. I'll hold those guys accountable we are going to get them to do those things. And just go from there."
The Coyotes visit the Raiders of Moorpark on Friday, November 18th for their first road game of the season. Tip off is 5 p.m. and fans unable to make the trip can watch the live broadcast on Cerro Coso's YouTube channel Coso Coyote Athletics.
The first half the Cerro Coso offense struggled to find ways to score against the height of Fullerton College. Edwards scored on a reverse layup to tie the game at 2-2 with 18:24 on the clock, but the next Coyote points were not made until Howard scored on a jump shot and was fouled with 16:44. The Hornets went on an 8-0 run until Williams went to the free throw line and hit one of two to cut Fullerton College lead to 17-6. The next three minutes saw the Coyotes score three points from the free throw line and trail 23-9 after calling a timeout. Following the timeout, the Coyotes began to put themselves in better scoring opportunities with Williams going two for four from the line and Edwards scoring on a layup off an offensive rebound and followed it with a three point from the corner. The rest of the half, the Coyotes continued to struggle as they had no easy scoring opportunities and continued to struggle from the free throw line.
In the second half, the Coyotes opened the scoring with a layup and a three from Howard to cut the deficit to 54-35. But the run was cut after an off the ball foul call went against the Coyotes. Cerro Coso did not let the call stop them as the Coyotes continued to try and find a way back into the game with Howard going to the line and hitting both free throws. Jenkins hit a three and Edwards hit a three and one of two free throws. But as much as the Coyotes struggled and fought to get baskets the defense struggled to stop the Hornets from scoring. Fullerton College used off ball movements with screens to free up shooters in the perimeter or ran the ball to one of their bigs in the post and let him either make a post move or hit a cutter. The Coyotes were able to force turnovers from bad passes, make blocks, or get steals but the struggle to get easy points hurt many of the runs they attempted. The height forced them to hesitate to attack the rim until late in the shot clock and grabbing the offensive rebound was difficult. When they were able to get a second or third opportunity they had to go up against the height and wing span of two or three players, which resulted in a blocked shot, high difficulty attempt, and even a bucket.