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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2019)
SPORTS MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2019 THE OBSERVER — 7A Sharp shooting sends Council past Union for tourney title topped Sherman County, 50-39, for their third win in a row. Carson Littlepage added nine points and Chase Murray scored eight for the Eagles. Joseph held a fi ve-point lead at the half and was up 32-26 after three quarters, then dropped 18 in the fourth for the win. The Eagles (5-2 overall) visit Dufur Thursday. By Ronald Bond The Observer UNION — Union slowed down Council’s high-tempo offense Sat- urday in the championship game of the Bobcat Christmas Classic. So the Lumberjacks, instead, hit seemingly everything they put up in the second half. Council connected on its fi rst six shots and eight of the fi rst nine in the second half and ultimately shot 72% after the break to top the Bobcats in the fi nal of their home tournament, 50-42. “What I told the boys is bottom line, you played your hearts out, they just got some things to fall late, and we didn’t,” head coach Odin Miller said. “Essentially, that’s the difference in the ball game.” Miller called Council’s second- half shooting percentage “incred- ible,” and added his team did what it wanted to do in slowing the Lumberjacks down. Union, conversely, was 23% in the second half as its shots simply didn’t fall. “That’s the difference in the game. That’s it,” Miller said. “The boys did a great job of execut- ing our game plan. They kept an incredibly athletic team that fast breaks as well as anybody to absolutely minimal points on the fast break.” Bradon Nichols, who led Council with 20 points, gave the Lumber- jacks their fi rst lead at 25-23 with a jumper midway through the third. Thatcher McLinn, who added 15 points, opened the fourth with a 3-pointer to make it 38-31, and Union got no closer than six the rest of the way. The Bobcats scored the game’s fi rst 10 points — seven coming from Keegan Glenn, who had 19 points and seven rebounds — and did enough in the fi rst half of- fensively to keep Council at bay. Council needed more than fi ve minutes to score before closing to within 10-6 after one. Glenn had a putback and then scored again in the low post to give Union a 19-12 lead late in the second, and a late layup by Garritt Ritter put the Bobcats ahead 21-17 at the half. Cole McLean’s basket to open the third made it 23-17 before Council caught fi re. McLean added seven points for Union and Shayne Ritter scored six points. The Bobcats (6-2 overall) face ROUGH SHOOTING EARLY DOOMS COUGARS Union’s Cameron Dillman attempts a layup Saturday during the boys title game of the Bobcat Christmas Classic. The Wallowa Cougars had a tough afternoon from the fl oor and couldn’t recover in a 61-43 road loss to Ione/Arlington. “In my opinion we were the bet- ter team, but in the fi rst quarter we missed 17 shots,” head coach Cody Lathrop said. “It seemed like ther was a lid on the basket.” The rough start resulted in an early seven-point defi cit which grew to 33-16 by halftime. Tristin Bales scored 19 points and Zeb Hermens added 14. Wallowa (3-5 overall) visits Echo Friday at the Bouncin’ Cancer Tournament. Prep boys basketball PANTHERS’ CONTEST CANCELED Staff photo by Ronald Bond Condon/Wheeler at the Winter Classic Friday in Mission. Also at the Bobcat Christmas Classic HUSKIES HOLD ON FOR WILD VICTORY The Elgin Huskies fended off Powder Valley in a back-and-forth battle Saturday in the fourth-place game of the Bobcat Christmas Classic, 48-46. The Huskies held a slim one- point lead entering the fourth, 35-34, and seemed in control up by six with 45 seconds to play. The Badgers stormed back and had a shot for the win, but the winning 3-point attempt hit the backboard and the rim but bounced away. Kaden McClure led the Huskies with 15 points, and three players — Gage McKay, Wyatt Hallgarth and Corbin Remington — scored nine points apiece. Roper Bingham led the Badgers with 16 points. Reece Dixon had 10 points and Moziss Nesser added nine. The Huskies (4-4 overall) visit Weston-McEwen Dec. 30, while Powder Valley (6-3) hosts Burns Dec. 30. TIGERS STEAL WIN FROM LEOPARDS WRESTLING Continued from Page 6A decision over McConnell. Michael Day fi nished 2-1, winning his last two matches by fall, to fi nish third at 220, and Levi Hammond went 2-2 for fourth place at 152. Garrett Burns of Imbler followed up his second-place fi nish at the Muilenburg with a title at 113. He went 3-0 with two pins, and needed just 57 seconds to pin Hasbell in the championship match. Round-robin pod wrestling took place Friday with nine teams fi lling in 34 divisions. Weiser (415 points), Grant Union (315.5) and La Grande (183.5) took the top three team spots. The Tigers had a pair of pod winners. Bella Gulzow won all four of her matches in the 132-pound girls pod, and Ward won two matches to take the 195B pod. Elgin, which was fi fth as a team with 100.5 points, had three pod champions: Terry, who went 3-0 at 126, Lathrop, who was 2-0 at 138, and Austin Greenlee, who went 3-0 in the 145B pod. Martens and Blackburn, who paced Union/ Cove Saturday, did so Friday as well, with Martens pinning both his opponents to win the 106 pod and Blackburn going 3-0 at 145. The Bobcats fi nished sixth with 79 points. Burns won two matches to take the 113 pod for Imbler, which placed eighth, and En- terprise, which took ninth, had two runner- up fi nishes from Hunter Harvey (152C) and Drew Widener (285). Enterprise on Saturday had two wres- tlers in the Mac-Hi Christmas Tourney, and Hunter Harvey was the top fi nisher, going Cove saw the tying free throw made with about a second to go in regulation Saturday and fell in overtime to Dayville/Monument, 51-44, in the seventh-place game. Bo Ledbetter, who led Cove with 15 points, hit a 3-pointer that gave the Leopards a 43-42 lead with just seconds to play, but a foul on the inbounds pass led to a free throw by the Tigers, who converted to send the game to an extra session, then outscored Cove 8-1 in OT for the win. Riley Lindsey added 10 points for Cove (1-7 overall) who hosts the La Grande JV Jan. 3. COLUMBIA TOPS TIGERS IN FI- NAL GAME AT NAMPA TOURNEY La Grande fi nished with an 0-3 record at the Today’s Dentistry Elite Eight after falling to Colum- bia, Idaho, Saturday, 60-39. The Tigers dug themselves a big hole early, falling behind 20-4 after one quarter and never getting back in the game. Cristian Mendoza led La Grande with 13 points. Devin Bell and Brady Hutchins each added seven points. La Grande (1-6 overall) hosts Seaside Friday. EAGLES GET BY HUSKIES Mason Ferre scored 19 points Saturday as the Joseph Eagles Imbler’s road game against Four Rivers in Ontario Saturday was canceled. The Panthers (2-6 overall) host Prairie City Jan. 3. Friday FRUITLAND SLIPS BY LA GRANDE and 35-29 after three, before com- ing back. COUGARS CAN’T DIG OUT OF EARLY HOLE Condon/Wheeler raced out to a 26-11 fi rst-quarter lead and Wal- lowa effort to come back fell short in a 63-54 road loss Friday. Tristin Bales had 22 points in the loss to lead Wallowa, while newcomer Jace Fischer added eight points. PANTHERS HOLD ON FOR SECOND WIN The Imbler Panthers grabbed an early lead and grinded out their second win of the year Friday over Notus, Idaho, 38-33. Jayce Burnette had 13 points to lead the Panthers, who were up 14-8 after one and maintained the lead throughout the rest of the con- test. Isaac Herron added 10 points and Wyatt Frost scored eight. BOBCATS DRUB MUSTANGS Cameron Dillman led the way with 14 points Friday, and the Union Bobcats built an early double-digit lead on the way to a 50-24 win over the Jordan Valley Mustangs. Cole McLean added 12 points and Jace Phillips scored eight as Bobcats scored. Union was up 12-1 after one quarter and still led by 11 at the half, then broke the game open with a 19-6 run in the third quarter for a 38-14 lead. BADGERS OUTPACE LEOPARDS A big third quarter hurt the La Grande Tigers Friday against the Fruitland Grizzlies and ultimately cost them in a 57-52 loss at the Today’s Dentistry Elite Eight in Nampa. La Grande led 27-22 at the break, but Fruitland countered with a 23-11 third quarter to pull ahead, 45-38, and held on. Cristian Mendoza led La Grande with 16 points. Devin Bell added 13 and Kaleb Myer had 11. Powder Valley raced out to an early double-digit lead en route to a 57-37 win over Cove in the consolation bracket at the Bobcat Christmas Classic. Reece Dixon had 10 points and Kaden Krieger added nine to lead a balanced attack for the Badgers, who took a 12-point lead after one quarter and extended it to 32-11 by halftime. Bo Ledbetter had 11 points for the Leopards, and Riley Lindsey added six. EAGLES RALLY IN THE FOURTH FOR WIN HUSKIES STOP TIGERS TO END LOSING STREAK Chase Murray and Mason Ferre combined for 39 points Friday as the Joseph Eagles rallied in the fourth quarter for a 54-47 win over Ione/Arlington. Murray had seven of his game- high 20 points in the fourth and Ferre had eight of his 19 in the fourth as Joseph outscored the Car- dinals 25-12 in the fi nal quarter to come back. Joseph trailed 28-23 at halftime, Gage McKay and Kaden Mc- Clure scored 10 points apiece Fri- day to lead the Elgin Huskies past Dayville/Monument, 45-27. Tristan Simpson added eight points for Elgin, which ended a three- game losing streak with the win. The Huskies built a 22-8 halftime lead with their leading trio combining for 20 points, and distanced themselves in the second half. 2-1 for fi fth at 152. Enterprise, Union/Cove and Imbler next head to the Pomeroy Christmas Tournament Friday, while Elgin is off until the Jo-Hi Tour- nament Jan. 3. TIGERS TAKE NINTH AT TRI-STATE The La Grande Tigers scored 133 points Friday and Saturday to tie for ninth out of 59 teams at the annual Tri-State wrestling tournament in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Five Tigers placed, including four get- ting into the top three, to lead La Grande. Nathan Reed, in his fi rst tournament of the season, went 4-1 to take second at 182 pounds. Reed won his fi rst four to reach the fi nal, including edging Riverside, Washington wrestler Samme DesRoches by a 7-6 decision, before dropping a 7-4 decision to Crook County’s Kyle Knudston in the fi nal. Gabe Shukle, also in his fi rst tournament, went 7-1 and won hits fi nal six matches to fi nish third at 285. His fi nal match was a 3-1 decision over Colby Blasdel of Chiawana, Washington. Spencer Gerst went 4-1 with three pins at 220 for third. Gerst fi nished with a 7-0 deci- sion over Elijah Roylance of Othello, Wash- ington, 7-0. Chris Woodworth (195) was also 4-1, and took down Christian Pedro of Auburn Riv- erside, Washington, by fall in the third-place match. Delia Gulzow took seventh at 98 pounds, fi nishing with a pin of Matt Williams from Lakeland, Idaho, in the seventh-place match. Three other wrestlers won at least three matches. The Tigers head to the Sierra Nevada Classic Friday. Staff photos by Ronald Bond Above: Imbler’s Garrett Burns, top, won the 113-pound division Saturday at the John Rysdam Memorial. Below: La Grande’s Delia Gulzow, left, and Union/Cove’s Gage Martens, right, are shown at the Muilenburg last week. Gulzow took seventh for La Grande at 98 pounds at the Tri-State meet, and Martens won 106 pounds at the John Rysdam Memorial.
