Coyotes fall in second half to Miners

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune

Madera’s Elias Torres drives the lane to score two of his team-high 10 points in Monday’s loss to El Diamante.

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The Madera Coyotes boys basketball team is having a resurgent season, but had a hiccup in its home opener against the El Diamante-Visalia Miners.

The Coyotes were outscored 37-11 in the second half that turned a six-point halftime deficit into a 63-31 loss Monday in Joe Flores Gym.

“In the second half, we got a good dosage of adversity from El Diamante,” head coach David Lozano said. “They played tougher and we didn’t have the mental toughness that we normally have.”

Elias Torres led the Coyotes with 10 points. However, he was the only Coyote to score more than four points. Six other players scored for the Coyotes, but they combined for 19 points.

“We have to take shots when we’re open. We’re trying to preach confidence in that,” Lozano said. “We were rushing in the first half. We were happy with the defensive effort, but we have to calm down on offense.”

The Coyotes were in the game in the first quarter, trailing 12-9. They were outscored just 14-11 in the second quarter and cut the lead down to four a few times.

However, the Coyotes turned the ball over 13 times in the second half while forcing just three.

“We haven’t had that game, yet,” Lozano said. “They busted the game open and we have to take care of the turnovers.”

El Diamante outscored Madera 18-8 in the third quarter and extended the lead to 44-28.

The Miners went on a 17-0 run from the end of the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

Madera’s only points of the fourth quarter came from a 3-pointer by Cam Walker.