Reed City freshman Xavier Allen battles to stay inbounds along the baseline during the Coyotes' 76-34 loss to Cadillac on Jan. 29 at RCHS. (Herald file photo/Joe Judd)
REED CITY -- Playing in their fifth non-league game of the season, the Coyote boys' basketball team of Reed City was taken down by the Cadillac Vikings 76-34 Wednesday evening at RCHS.
The Coyotes lost 58-34 to Fremont in CSAA Gold play on Friday.
Reed City is now 2-10 overall.
"Cadillac is definitely up to their billing -- they deserve all the credit they get," Reed City coach Jesse Kailing said after the loss. "We're a program that's building and trying to get better; we've made some great improvements since Christmas break."
The first quarter proved to be difficult on both sides of the ball for the hosting Coyotes and they trailed 27-6 after eight minutes of play.
During this opening quarter and for most of the first half, Cadillac had little difficulty setting up and executing plays for points -- especially from behind the three-point line.
Reed City's offense showed signs of life in the second quarter and the Coyotes actually outscored their non-league foes 15-10 during the frame to make it a 37-21 score at halftime.
Despite coming out of the break with a 16-point hole to dig out of, Kailing's team came back out of the locker room for the second half motivated to hand the visiting Vikings their second defeat in as many games.
As time ticked away in the third quarter, it was apparent that an RC comeback was not in the cards.
The Coyotes started the third quarter by quickly allowing a pair of uncontested Cadillac 3-pointers and didn't find the bottom of the bucket for nearly half of the frame.
With under a minute to go until the final quarter, Cadillac's advantage on the scoreboard had just about doubled and Vikings were up 57-29.
"We've struggled to put the ball in the basket all year and tonight's no different," Kailing said. "We need to start hitting some stuff to bring people out and have to come guard us and that isn't happening."
The Vikings' lead swelled to more than 30 points before the end of regulation.
Cadillac is 9-1.
Top scorers for Reed City were Zac Saez (13), Payton Hansen (7) and Xavier Allen (5).
