Coyotes look to build on Hawks Classic
Tyler Takeda/The Madera Tribune
Madera’s Josiah Pickens drives the lane during Thursday’s game against Yosemite in the Hawks Classic at Liberty. The Coyotes defeated Highland in to win the third place plaque.
After picking up a Hawks Classic-opening victory over the Yosemite-Oakhurst Badgers, the Madera Coyotes boys basketball team dropped its next game, 58-41, to East-Bakersfield.
The Coyotes got scoring from 11 different players to score a 34-point victory over the Badgers to open the tournament Thursday.
However, the momentum would run out in the second half on Friday against East. The Blades outscored the Coyotes 23-11 in the fourth quarter and 35-18 in the second half for a dominant victory.
In both games, the leading scorer had 12 points. Elias Torres led the Coyotes with 12 points against Yosemite while All-Tournament selection Shovawn Gonzales scored 10.
Against East, Robbie Baez led the team with 12 points as eight different players scored for the Coyotes.
The Coyotes closed out the tournament with a victory over Highland-Bakersfield in the third place game.
Madera 65, Yosemite 31
The Coyotes used balanced scoring to record a 65-31 victory over the Badgers to open the Hawks Classic.
Yosemite scored the first three points of the game before the Coyotes scored the next 11.
Gonzales started the run with a driving bucket. Ethan Villegas hit a 3-pointer and a layup. Baez made a free throw and a 3-pointer before Yosemite hit a short jumper for an 11-5 Coyote lead.
J’Sean Gonzales hit a short jumper and Ben Prim added another for a 15-5 lead.
A layup by Torres off a pass from Villegas and a Torres free throw extended the run to 18-2.
Yosemite added a free throw, but Jazir Alejandre got a steal and found Gonzales for a 20-6 lead. Yosemite made a free throw, but Prim scored down low and Martin Duran found Shovawn Gonzales for a layup and a 24-7 lead.
Josiah Pickens made a free throw and a short jumper before the end of the half for a 27-10 lead.
Torres and Pickens made layups to open the second half. Torres put back a miss and banked in a 3-pointer for an 11-0 run.
After a Yosemite bucket stopped the run, Prim made a short jumper and Baez hit a 3-pointer to get the lead to 28. Gonzales answered a short Yosemite bucket with a baseline driving layup. After two Yosemite free throws, Carlos Barajas found Zeshan Ahmad for a layup.
Yosemite closed out the third quarter with a 7-2 run with Duran scoring Madera’s bucket.
Yosemite opened the fourth quarter scoring with a bucket. But, Gonzales hit a pull-up jumper and a short jumper and Torres made a layup to extend the lead to 53-25.
Barajas made a pair of layups and J’Sean Gonzales made a pair of buckets to open the lead to 61-30. Duran added a layup and found Alejandre for a layup with a pass behind his head for the 65-31 final.
East 58, Madera 41
The Coyotes seemed like they ran out of gas in a semifinal loss to the East Blades on Friday.
They tied the game at 35 in the fourth, but East went on a 14-1 run to cruise to a 58-41 victory Friday.
Baez led the Coyotes with 12 points. Pickens scored nine and Torres added eight in the loss.
The Coyotes controlled the boards. They pulled down 32 rebounds, including 17 on the offensive glass. However, they only scored six points from their offensive rebounds.
Pickens hit a pull-up 15-foot jumper and Baez hit a 12-foot pull-up jumper for the first points.
East tied the score, but Alejandre hit a 3-pointer. East hit a jumper, but Pickens banked in a 3-pointer for a 10-6 lead. After two East free throws, Ahmad threw a behind-the-back pass to Torres for a layup and a 12-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
East cut the lead to one before Baez banked in a 7-foot jumper. East, again, cut the lead to one, but Pickens hit a 3-pointer and Ahmad put back a miss for a 20-14 lead.
East made a pair of layups and two free throws to tie the score. Baez answered with a banked-in 3-pointer.
The Blades put back a miss and was fouled trying a half-court shot at the halftime buzzer. However, East only made one-of-three free throws and tied the game at 23.
Madera opened the second half scoring with a short jumper and a 3-pointer from Torres.
East scored the next nine points to take a 32-28 lead. In the run, Madera missed six shots, but had three offensive boards and couldn’t find the putback.
Shovawn Gonzales stopped the run with a jumper, but East hit a 3-pointer before the end of the third quarter for a 35-30 lead.
Baez found Villegas for a layup and then hit a 3-pointer to tie the score early in the fourth quarter.
However, over the next five minutes, Madera only got a free throw from Villegas. Meanwhile, East took advantage of eight Madera turnovers, including five straight possessions without taking a shot, to go on a 14-1 run for a 49-36 lead.
After East made a layup to increase the lead to 14, Gonzales made a driving layup. However, East converted a 3-point play and the Coyotes only got a Baez offensive putback in the final minute for a 58-41 loss.
