The Cuyamaca men's basketball team started the 2016-17 season with a road game at Irvine Valley. With eleven first year players, the Coyote coaching staff knew that there would be "growing pains" the first few games. However, Cuyamaca showed great poise in taking a nine point first half lead behind the play of Eric Patten (21 pts, 14 rebs), Spencer Smith (15 pts, 8 rebs), Jon Irving (14 pts, 8 asts) and Shai Stevenson (7 rebs). In the second half, Cuyamaca scored the first eight points to stretch its lead to 17, but Irvine Valley slowly chipped away at the Coyote lead. Irvine Valley took the lead by making numerous three-point shots and by Cuyamaca missing layups and shooting bad shots down the stretch. The Coyotes lose a tough one, 72-67.