Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Coronado brings ‘why not us’ mentality into championship game with Gorman

Cougars use stingy defense to limit Carson to three points in second quarter of semifinals

Coronado

Jeff Mulvihill Jr. / Special to the Sun

Coronado’s Kennedy Koehler (30) forces his way inside against Carson during their state semifinal game Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, in Reno.

RENO — When the Coronado High basketball team committed to its full court pressure defense in the second quarter of Thursday’s state semifinals, Carson didn’t seem to stand a chance. They were overmatched with the Cougars’ speed.

The aggressive mentality rattled Carson’s inexperienced ball-handlers, turning a small Coronado deficit into a 53-43 victory and spot in Friday’s state championship game against power Bishop Gorman at UNR’s Lawlor Events Center.

Coronado limited Carson to three points in the second quarter. Carson mustered just six in the third.

“We really wanted to get stops and convert them into buckets,” Coronado guard Nick Davis said. “We keep playing hard throughout the whole game.”

On consecutive possessions in the third quarter, Davis came up with a steal for Coronado that led to an easy basket. He proceeded to dribble to the other end of the court in transition, finding teammates for lay-ins. Soon, Coronado had a commanding 14-point lead.

It was turnover after turnover for Carson, followed by poor shot attempt after poor shot attempt. Whether it was Bryce Savoy, Trey Hulburt or big man Kennedy Koehler applying the pressure, Carson was overwhelmed.

“It is a real aggressive defense, and if you aren’t familiar with it, you tend to throw the ball where we want you to throw the ball,” Coronado coach Jeff Kaufman said. “Fortunately, they weren’t familiar with it and they threw the ball where we had our hands.”

Sunrise Region champion Coronado, playing in its first state tournament, also struggled at times. It trailed 13-9 after the first quarter, and when they were trying to close out the lead, had a few costly mistakes to allow Carson to cut the deficit to six points late. Carson had 21 fourth-quarter points, or two more than the previous three quarters combined.

“It is one of those games where you want to win so bad that you have nervous energy,” Kaufman said.

Jake DesJardins, Coronado’s top player, was hindered with foul trouble most of the game and finished with nine points. But senior Kennedy Koehler was effective on the inside, matching Carson's physicality to score a game-high 19 points.

Coronado, typically a solid outside shooting team, struggled to make shots — especially in the first quarter. Hulbert had seven points in the first quarter and finished with 12, Davis finished with seven points and five assists, and Savoy scored five points.

Duplicating the defense against Gorman might be easier said than done. Gorman is the four-time defending state champions, has three high-major college recruits in the starting lineup and already owns a 22-point victory against Coronado this season.

But Coronado doesn’t plan to simply go through the motions. They’ll try to duplicate the effort against Carson, and try to do it with pressure defense.

“Our message is, ‘Why not us? Why not us?' Someone has to do it. We have a chance,” Kaufman said. “All we wanted to do was to put ourselves in the position to have a chance.”

Davis and his teammates seem up to the challenge.

“Control what we can control, effort and energy,” he said. “They are a respected team. We respect all, but we don’t fear anybody.”

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

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