The boys team sits a 7-7 after winning its final two non-league games — 75-51 over Turlock Christian on Dec. 27 and 69-27 over Valley of Sacramento on Jan. 2 – and six of its past seven. The Coyotes have overcome an 0-5 start, when they faced some larger schools while seven of their 12 players were still involved with football.
“We’ve turned things around,” said first-year coach Kevin Storms. “We just needed practices. The football guys came in late and it’s difficult to get cohesion until you get the whole team together.”
The Coyotes are a young team with seven juniors, four sophomores and just one senior – Turlock Christian transfer Jack Ruane — on the roster.
By far the Coyotes’ best player has been 6-foot-5 junior Koby Cervantes, who is in his third year on the varsity. He leads the team in scoring (23.4 points per game), rebounding (10.6), assists (2.6) and blocks (2.1). He ranks fourth in the Sac-Joaquin Section in scoring and 10th in rebounding and blocked shots. He also has the most double-double games (double figures in points and rebounding) in the Section with 10.
Cervantes has scored 30 points in a game three times this season – with a high of 35 against Turlock Christian – and has only been held to less than 20 in three games.
“He really loves basketball and is just a really good player,” Storms said. “He’s constantly asking me to open up the gym so he can get up shots. He’s also very coachable.”
After two seasons running the frenetic Grinnell system – where players went as hard as they could for three or four minutes before being subbed out and took quick shots on offense – Denair has a more traditional approach under Storms. Still, his read and react system requires the players to be in constant motion of offense and make good decisions with the ball, whether that’s passing to an open teammate cutting toward the basket or taking and making an open three-point shot.
“We’re teaching them to how to play basketball rather than memorizing plays,” Storms said. “We usually have four players on the perimeter and one posting up. It just depends on how the defense is playing us.”
Though Cervantes has been the focal point of the offense, he has plenty of help from 6-5 sophomore center Brody Fitzgerald, 6-3 sophomore Mateo Mendoza, sophomore small forward Derek Potter, and junior guards Sal Virgen and Valente Rosales.
Ruane – the team’s only senior – is coming back from a knee injury but also is part of the Coyotes’ rotation.
“We’re very young, but we have some really good players,” said Storms, whose team opens the Southern League schedule Friday night at LeGrand.
Denair’s seven victories are tied with Waterford (7-9) – a team the Coyotes already have beaten last month – for the most in the SL. Storms expects Denair to compete with Stone Ridge Christian (4-9) and Delhi (5-10) for the league title.
One team – Gustine – has dropped out of the varsity race this season because it didn’t have enough players.
The Denair girls team, meanwhile, sits at 5-6 before Monday night’s Southern League opener at home against Stone Ridge Christian (1-5). The Coyotes got off to a 4-2 start but have dropped four of their past five games.
Junior Cloey Ellerd leads the team in scoring (14.8), assists (1.7) and steals (6.0). She ranks fifth in the Section in steals.
Sophomore Piper Northcutt is the team’s leading rebounder (8.0), just ahead of sophomore Shayla Zamora (7.4) and senior Leslie Barerra (6.3).
The Southern League race looks to be wide open, with only Mariposa (7-6) having a winning record so far.
