After starting off the season with a bang, Centennial has fizzled late. The Coyotes were 15-4 in the middle of January, but now find themselves on a four-game skid and have lost six of their last seven games.

Centennial’s slump continued Tuesday night with a 58-45 loss to the Apollo Hawks.

Coach Randy Lavender said he expected the competition to get stronger once the region schedule began.

“I don’t know if we ran out of gas, or what it was, but we just started losing games,” Lavender said. “It’s pretty tough, the region is tough.”

Junior guard Malcolm Daniels—who led the team in scoring with 12 points while also chipping in five rebounds, three blocks and a steal—said putting the ball in the basket wasn’t going to be enough to take down Apollo.

“There were some lapses on the defensive side and we definitely got beat on the boards,” Daniels said. “So, I feel like if we just come back and gang rebound and talk a little more on defense, it would’ve been a different game.”

Junior forward David Teibo fouled out of the game before the first half even ended. Teibo said he felt responsible for the direction the game went after fouling out.

“I feel like this game was on me. I need to step up next game.”

The Coyotes finished the season with an overall record of 16-10 but finished 4-6 in region play. Despite the collapse toward the end, Lavender is still confident Centennial has a shot at the playoffs. He also realizes that if his team does make it to the post season, the level of competition isn’t going to get any easier.

“Whoever we’re going to play is not going to be a cupcake,” Lavender said. “It’s going to be hard, they’re going to be around the same seed as us. So hopefully we can just come out there and have some fight and play hard.”