Coronado wins program’s first regional title with mercy rule victory

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Friday, Feb. 19, 2016 | 9:54 p.m.

If the Coronado High basketball team plays like it did today in the second quarter of the Sunrise Regional championship game, the Cougars will be tough to beat in next week’s state tournament.

Forget about the contributions from its top two players, big men Jake DesJardins and Kennedy Koehler. The Cougars outscored Eldorado 32-7 in the second quarter because sophomore Patrick Simms hit a pair of nothing-but-net 3-pointers and guard Nick Davis was as dominant as he’s been all season.

Coronado won the first regional title in school history with a 70-32 mercy-rule victory against Eldorado to earn a spot in Reno next week for the four-team Division-I state tournament. Coronado, which opened in 2001, will make its first state championship appearance.

Coronado drained six 3-pointers in the second quarter outburst, including two from Davis, who finished with 19 points, and one each from DesJardins and Koehler. DesJardins and Koehler are two of the best players in the region, if not city, and usually post a double-double of points and rebounds each game.

But for Coronado to beat four-time defending state champion Bishop Gorman at state, everyone in the rotation has to have an impact. That was the case in the second quarter against Eldorado.

Coronado was aggressive in its pressure defense to force turnovers and increase the pace of the game, giving all five players on the floor plenty of chances to pad their stats. Junior guard Trey Hulbert dished out some nifty passes to Koehler on the inside for easy baskets, and Coronado hits 3-pointers in three straight offensive possessions. It was open look after open look.

Coronado scored the same number of points in the second quarter that Eldorado did in the entire game.

“That was definitely one of our better quarters. That is the difference from us being good and great, those guys stepping up and making plays in crunchtime,” DesJardins said.

Soon, the mercy rule of a running clock ended the game. It was the third time in two weeks Coronado has won by the mercy rule, enhancing its argument as one of the state’s best teams. Coronado went 10-0 in the Southeast League for the second straight season.

“I’ve been saying it all year, if our guards get good, we will be tough to beat,” Coronado coach Jeff Kaufman said. “Our guards have been good the past five games. As the guards go, we go.”

Koehler, despite not playing the fourth quarter, led all scorers with 22 points. Now, it’s onto another challenge: State. Coronado plays either Reno or Carson Thursday at the Lawlor Events Center.

And if they play like they did tonight, the Cougars might win another championship.

“Everything we were shooting was falling. We were doing everything right,” Koehler said.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21