Coyote Men: Late surge helps, but team falls short
By Nathan Ahle, The Daily Independent
After a difficult end to their tournament schedule, the Cerro Coso
Coyotes headed into Antelope Valley to play the Marauders looking for a
spark.
The spark came, but too late.
Cerro Coso fell 70-61 to the Marauders, dropping the team's overall
record to 7-11.
Tyrone Taylor led the Coyotes with 16 points, followed by Frank Saketa's
12.
The Coyotes jumped out to a 6-2 early lead, and had a two-point
advantage as late as the 7:30 mark, but AV surged back with solid
perimeter shooting to take a 35-22 halftime lead. The Marauders drained
seven three-pointers in the half.
"We didn't make some adjustments on the floor to defend the perimeter,"
said Coyotes Head Coach Larry Bird. "They hit 44 percent from the
outside, and that's tough to beat."
"We did do some things right in the half. We took care of the ball,"
added Bird.
AV continued its solid play early in the second half. With 13:35
remaining, the Coyotes were down by 20 and running out of options.
Suddenly, things began to fall for Cerro Coso. Simon Compain hit two
free-throws to cut the deficit to 53-38 with just over 11 minutes
remaining, and the Coyotes got rolling from there.
"We mixed defenses, and that enabled us to come back in the second
half," Bird said.
Compain's free-throws began a 11-0 run for Cerro Coso. Nathan Hiner hit
two clutch three-points in 10 seconds. Compain came up with a huge block
at the other end, and Karl Williams knocked down another three-pointer
to cut the Marauder lead to five with over eight minutes to go.
"Nathan and Karl have really stepped up," said Bird. "They've given us a
lift of late."
Despite a solid effort, the Coyotes were unable to come closer. The
Marauders sank key baskets at critical times before Cerro Coso was
forced to foul late in the game. the free-throws were converted and the
Coyotes dropped their first conference game of the year.
"Offensively, we're not where we need to be yet," said Bird. "We scored
61 tonight, we need to be up around 71 points by this point in the
season."
The Coyotes will look to get something going Saturday as Mt. San Jacinto
comes to town. San Jacinto is a conference power, having defeated solid
teams such as Ventura and Fullerton earlier in the season.
"We know we can play with teams," said Bird. "The question right now is,
'can we put them away?'"
"In San Jacinto we'll see a machine that's oiled and ready to go."
The game will begin at 7 p.m., and will feature a halftime contest.
January 3, 2003
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The Daily Independent.
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