By Abdiel Aguayo | Staff Writer

Coyote men’s basketball team had an up and down weekend starting with a loss against the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters Friday Jan. 15.

After five minutes into the first half Coyotes were looking good, up by four point just and two minutes later they were up by 6.

Things were looking good so far, but then the Otters came up with five points at the 10 minute mark of the first half.

There was only eight minutes and 33 seconds on the clock when the Otters finished the first half with 45 points against the Coyotes.

The Otters continued to stay ahead and at one point lead by 13 points.

By the end of the first half the Coyotes narrowed the gap to eight points.

The Otters lead 45 to our Coyote’s 37.

After the first half, the Otters had a better goal percentage at 63 percent, compared to our 48.3 percent.

Unfortunatel,y the second half would continue the same story.

Coyote forward Desi Barmore would have a team high of 23 points but this wasn’t enough to get them back into the game.

Some major statistical differences would include: a lack of second chance points, a lack of fast break points, and most noticeable was our points within the paint.

With zero second chance points and zero fast break points, the Otters seemed to have the Coyotes locked down. 

The Otters had 30 more points in the paint, a rectangular area of the court within the key, than the Coyotes.

The game ended 81-93 with the Coyotes taking a loss to the Otters. 

The Coyotes then traveled to Hayward, Calif. to take on the Cal State East Bay Pioneers.

Before the game, Pioneers lead their season series 1-0.

The Coyotes got ahead early and went up by four points but couldn’t get far enough ahead.

With a hard push the Pioneers took the lead by nine points, and after 12 minutes into the first half but the Coyotes were not ready to give up.

By the end of the first half the team was able to work together and retake the lead before half time with a score of 39-38.

The Pioneers came out of the break ready to play, but so did the Coyotes. 

The Pioneers kept the lead for most of the second half.

With a little less than five minutes left in the game, the Coyotes advanced with two steals, one by guard Keith Smith, and the other by forward Dylan Leonard.

From that point on our Coyotes would not lose the lead.

A team effort was key in the win as four other Coyotes scored in double figures.

Coyote guards Everett Turner had 19 points, and Zeke DeBlase had 14 points.

Forward Desi Barmore  and Guard Juan Martinez both had 12 points each.

CSUSB was able to force the Pioneers to turnover the ball 19 times.

The Coyotes pulled out a win with a final score of 78-73 over the Pioneers.

Wrapping up a four game northern California road trip where the Coyotes went 2-2.