Inside game too much for Coyotes
Tyler Takeda/The Madera Tribune Madera’s Eli Barrios drives the lane during Wednesday’s loss to the Edison Tigers.
The Edison-Fresno Tigers had their way with the Madera Coyotes inside the paint, but had to hold off the feisty home team in a County/Metro Athletic Conference match-up in Joe Flores Gym.
The Tigers outscored the Coyotes 23-12 in the second quarter and that was enough for an 82-66 victory Wednesday evening.
“I’m proud of how hard they played from beginning to end,” head coach David Lozano said. “They were flying around the court with 10 seconds left to get another possession. They played hard and stayed together.”
Kecian Primes led the Coyotes with 18 points and Eli Barrios scored 12, but runs in the second and third quarters led the Tigers to the win.
“When Eli got his early second foul and his fourth in the third, Edison was able to strike really fast,” Lozano said. “He’s a big-time player for us. We rely on him to do a lot of things.”
The Coyotes shot well from the field,
25-of-53 (47 percent), but was just 5-of-21 (24 percent) from 3-point range. Christian Aguilar hit three and Alek Trukki hit the other two.
“We believe in our guys to shoot it,” Lozano said. “If we get good ball movement and get an open look, we have to pull the trigger. There’s no real true post player. We are getting better at going to the rim, though.”
The Coyotes battled with the Tigers for most of the first half.
Barrios drove for a layup and Trukki hit a 3-pointer for the early Coyote lead. Edison hit two 3-pointers to take the lead, but Aguilar found Primes for a layup and a 7-6 lead.
Back-to-back turnovers led to back-to-back layups the keyed an 8-0 Edison run.
The Coyotes came back with an Aguilar 3-pointer, a Barrios steal and layup and a Primes driving layup to tie the score at 14.
Edison made two straight layups. However, Hass scored on a underhanded scoop layup and Colt Nelson made two free throws to tie the game at 15 at the end of the first quarter.
Edison opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer and a layup.
Primes found Nelson for a short jumper to stop the run, but Edison made a 3-pointer.
Aguilar hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to three. After an Edison traveling violation, Aguilar hit a 3-pointer after a pump fake to tie the score at 28.
Two layups from Primes kept the Coyotes close, trailing 31-30. However, Edison closed the first half on a 10-0 run, all on layups, taking advantage of four missed Coyotes’ shots.
Trukki hit a short jumper after Edison opened the second half scoring. After an Edison 3-pointer, Haas drove baseline for a layup.
After Edison scored three straight points, Primes converted a 3-point play, but Edison made its own 3-point play. The Tigers added a bucket for a 17-point lead.
Primes converted another 3-point play and Barrios made two free throws to cut the lead to 12. Barrios answered an Edison bucket with a layup with a layup for a 56-44 Edison lead.
Barrios found Nelson for a layup after a rebound. After an Edison layup, Primes got a steal, made a layup, was fouled and made the free throw to get within double figures. Edison closed out the third quarter with a layup for a 60-49 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
After an Edison layup, Trukki hit a 3-pointer. Primes answered an Edison layup with a pull-up jumper. Trukki made two free throws, but Edison answered with a layup, an offensive putback, a dunk and another layup to extend the lead to 72-56.
Hass got a steal and turned it into a layup, but Edison got another dunk and an offensive putback. Barrios drove the lane and made the layup. He was fouled and made the free throw to cut the lead to 15.
However, the Coyotes couldn’t get any closer. Trukki made a pair of free throws, Primes made a driving layup and Barrios made a free throw. Meanwhile, Edison closed out the quarter with two layups and an offensive putback for the 82-66 victory.
