The Cerro Coso men's basketball team hosted Barstow College on Saturday, December 17th and defeated the Vikings 89-63 after playing the last seven games on the road and before going to Christmas Break. The Coyotes return to the hardwood on Friday, December 30th wen they host Rio Hondo at 3 p.m. Head Coach Chris Dugan spoke on his team's win.
"It was good. Obviously it got a little ragged towards the end but the guys that are in our rotation, that came out, energy ready to go," he said. "Last game before break is always worrisome. Guys are ready to go home, they haven't seen their family, and they want to get out of here. Any win is a good win."
The Coyotes first half defense held the Vikings to only 25 points and allowed the home team to control the flow and tempo of the game for a 26 point win. As a team the Coyotes shot the ball 52 percent from the field, 33 percent from the three point line, and 56 percent from the free throw line. Nate Jackson led the Coyotes with 25 points. Sincere Edwards had a double double 11 points and 10 rebounds. Destin Jackson had 12 points and seven boards, Adam Claybourne had 16 points and five boards, and Darnell Turner Jr. had 10 points off the bench.
The game was the first home game for the Coyotes after playing the last seven on the road. Dugan spoke on the advantage of playing at home and winning at home.
"Its always great, there wasn't a lot of people tonight, but when we play at home we get an advantage," the Coyotes coach said. "Guys are not use to driving this far so we did a good job of protecting home. We are 4-1 at home and we are winning 80 to 90 percent of our games at home."
The first half started off slow for the Coyotes as they led 10-4 after five minutes of play until the Coyotes went on a 9-0 run to build a lead over the Vikings. The run started with a layup from Edwards, two free throws from Jalen Williams, a three from Will Hinton, and a jump shot from Edwards. From there Cerro Coso offense started from the defense with either steals, blocks, or holding Barstow to one opportunity and than heading on the run and attacking the rim before the Vikings could set their half court defense. Turner and Williams both had back to back dunks with Turner's coming off a steal and Williams from a defensive rebound. The Coyotes went into the half leading 47-25.
The second half saw a much more even game with the Coyotes defeating the Vikings 42-38. Cerro Coso came out of the locker rooms and started the half with an Edwards layup and a foul, and a Jackson corner three. Barstow responded with a jump shot and the Coyotes responded with an Edwards layup and a Claybourne layup to lead 59-29. The Coyotes continued to get what they wanted on the offensive end and led 75-40 after back to back threes from Edwards. The Coyotes offense went silent for the next four minutes where they also went 0-for-three from the free throw line. In that cold streak, the Vikings could only score six points and a dunk from Jenkins snapped the streak and gave the Coyotes a 77-46 lead. The final five minutes both teams traded baskets with the Coyotes final bucket coming from Jenkins on a layup with 35 seconds left in the game.
With the big lead the Coyotes created in the first half, Dugan was able to give heavy minute to his second unit. He said it is important to get other players game time because many of them may think they are not getting as much playing time as they would like, and he needs them to be ready to play as they are important. The extra playing time also gives his second until more confidence and that is vital at this level.
Cerro Coso plays its final non-conference game hosting Rio Hondo on Friday, December 30th at 3 p.m. Dugan spoke on playing the final non-conference game and preparing for conference play.
"These two games are always worrisome. The one before Christmas break and the one after. Guys go home and you don't know what they are doing, and so we need to get to 500," he said. "We can get to 500 in preseason and we can get to 500 in conference, we can start that grind of pushing forward and if we can get there I feel extremely confident we can make some noise. We lost a close on to San Jacinto on the road so we have to keep grinding forward."