Basketball Recap: Jaden Pena's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Coalinga over Monache

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Coalinga can now relate to. They took a 52-47 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Monache Marauders. Unfortunately, that's the second time they've come up short against the Marauders this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 67-44 back in December of 2024.

Jaden Pena

Points

02/19/25 @ Monache	22
02/15/25 @ Sierra	24
02/11/25 vs Dos Palos	26
02/07/25 @ Tranquillity	24
02/04/25 @ Mendota	15

Coalinga lost on Wednesday despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Jaden Pena, who posted 22 points in addition to seven boards and five assists. His evening made it five games in a row in which he has scored at least 15 points. Another player making a difference was Masai Richard, who earned six points and eight rebounds.

Even though they lost, Coalinga smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 42 consecutive games dating back to last season.

Ty Baxter continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Monache, putting up 31 points and three steals. Baxter has become a key player for Monache: the team is undefeated when he posts at least 25 points, but 10-11 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of E'Saun Jefferson, who put up 11 points and six boards.

Coalinga's loss dropped their record down to 23-7. As for Monache, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches. That's provided a massive bump to their 19-11 record this season.

Coalinga does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Monache, they have already played their next contest, a 58-55 victory against Corcoran on the 21st.