The Cerro Coso Men's basketball team returned home to host Desert in an Inland Empire Athletic Conference game. After a sloppy first half, the Coyotes went on to defeat the Roadrunners 106-57. The win was the second in a row for the Coyotes, who earned a big road win over Copper Mountain 75-60 on Saturday. The win moves Cerro Coso into third place in the conference. Head Coach Chris Dugan spoke on his team's home win.
"Absolute awful performance in the first half. Its that effort, energy, and focus just was not there. When you play a team before and you beat them, you think you are just going to roll over. And we had 0, 0 effort and focus it was all about us. And the mark of a good team is you do what you do. You don't play up to your opponent or down to your opponent."
The Coyotes shot 48.7 percent from the field, 34.6 percent from the three point line, and 76.7 percent from the free throw line. They had five players, with four in the starting lineup, all scoring in double digits with two finishing with a double double. Destin Jenkins led the team off the bench with 20 points, 15 rebounds, two assists, two steals and seven blocks. Sincere Edwards finished with 18 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and eight blocks. Nate Jackson had 17 points, three steals, two assists, and two rebounds. Adam Claybourne Jr. and Jordan Howard both had 14 points each.
The first half was a sloppy game for both sides with plenty of moments where neither team could get any kind of offense flowing. The first three minutes saw the Coyotes struggle to score as they settled for contested jump shots and missed a few layups and put backs. During that three minute cold streak for the Coyotes, their opponent only scored six points. Cerro Coso scored its first points of the game when Edwards hit one of his two free throws. Howard scored on a put back to cut the deficit to three, 6-3. After the Roadrunners scored a three, Howard hit a long two pointer. Howard continued his scoring run with a three keeping the Coyotes close to the Roadrunners at 12-8. After a tip in from Jenkins the Coyotes where down a bucket, 12-10. Howard hit a fadeaway jump shot from the baseline to cut the deficit to 15-12, and a corner three from Jackson tied the game at 15-15 with 10:46 left in the half. Cerro Coso went on a 9-0 run with a free throw from Williams, an alley-oop layup from Williams, a three from Jackson, and layup and foul from Jackson led to a 24-15 lead. Jenkins hit two free throws after Desert scored for a 26-17 lead but the Roadrunners went on a 5-0 run to cut the Coyotes lead to 26-22. A layup from Claybourne ended the Desert run and gave the Coyotes a 28-22 led. Desert scored the next four points to cut the lead to two until Jackson hit a three. The Roadrunners cut the Coyotes lead to one, 31-30, until Jackson hit two free throws. The lead was again cut to one with Jackson responding by going to the line and hitting two free throws. Edwards hit a corner three after after the Roadrunners cut the lead to one and Claybourne extended the lead on a layup and foul where he hit his free throw for a 38-32 lead. After Desert hit a bucket the Coyotes closed the quarter with a dunk from Williams off a steal and a layup from Edwards for a 43-34 lead at the half.
The second half began with Jackson hitting two free throws but Desert went on to score the next four point until Howard banked in his jump shot with the Coyotes lead at 47-38. Edwards and Claybourne both scored on layups after Roadrunners scored two points at the free throw line for a 51-40 lead. The Coyotes then went on a 26-9 run to take control of the game with Howard hitting a three, Hinton scoring on a layup, Edwards hitting three free throws from going two for three after being fouled taking a corner three and hit a free throw after the Desert had a player called for a technical. Claybourne scored on a layup and hit his free throw on an and-one, he then scored on a put back layup, a three from Jenkins, and a layup from Claybourne. The run continued when Turner twice and Jenkins scored on layups from steals and Turner ended the run when he scored both his free throws. The Coyotes lead 77-49 with 9:13 left in the game. After Desert scored on a contested jump shot, the Coyotes went on a 13-0 run when Will Hinton scored on a layup, Jenkins scored on a dunk but missed the free throw from the foul, and Edwards scored on a layup. The run continued with Jenkins hitting a three, Hinton hitting both his free throws, and Edwards scored in the paint on a layup. The Coyotes led 90-51 at the end of the run, but Desert went on a small 4-0 run until Edwards hit one of his two attempts at the charity stripe. Hinton hit a three from the top of the key and Turner scored on a dunk for a 98-55 lead. Jenkins hit a jump shot, Edwards scored at the free throw line, and Jenkins scored with a hook shot and an alley-oop layup for the Coyotes big home win.
Dugan spoke on his team's second half performance that led to the 49 point home win. He also touched on his team needing to come out focused for every game as they continue to fight for a spot in the postseason.
"No X's and O's just a simply getting after it. Complete overall competing, guarding harder, more effort, more energy, more focus and that is what we did," he said. "To be honest we need every single person, and we have talked about it before, I need every single person on my team to contribute whether it's Will (Hinton). We are playing six guys in really big games and we need a seventh guy, we need an eighth guy. You never know. Jalen Williams is going to be out Saturday because he has a hurt ankle so who is going to step up.
"We have to have overall focus. Every game matters. We have to take care of business at home, we lost that game to San Bernardino so they have a leg up on us. But we didn't do ourselves any service by losing a couple of games in the preseason we should have won. We need to handle business and win out every game."
Cerro Coso is on the road facing Chaffey on Saturday. Dugan spoke on what he wants to see from his players as they look to continue their winning streak on the road.
"Second half performance is what I'm looking for getting after it, competing, playing together, guys attacking the rim, going to the offensive glass, sliding your feet, not fouling, rebounding," the Coyotes coach said. "Its a big game and we need to go get this win. If we can get Chaffey, I like where we are at, how we are playing but good teams go on the road and win big games. We got one against Cooper, we have to go get this one. I expect nothing less from whoever is in uniform is going to go get it."
The Coyotes face Chaffey on Saturday at 3 p.m. They return home on Monday, January 23rd when they host Mt. San Jacinto at 5 p.m., and then go back on the road Wednesday, January 25th visiting Barstow at 5 p.m.