7A
Monday, December 30, 2019
The Observer
Gerst, Robinson
lead La Grande to
fifth place in Reno
Observer staff
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
La Grande senior Kaleb Myer drives to the rim Friday during the Tigers’ game against Seaside.
Tigers hang tough
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The La Grande
Tigers boys basketball team came away
with some positives to build on from
the weekend despite falling to the same
team twice in 15 hours.
La Grande hung with the defending
4A state runners-up but fell to Seaside
at home Friday night, 60-48, and Satur-
day morning, 62-56.
“I told the kids after I’m really happy
with their effort over the last couple
of games,” head coach Mark Carollo
said Saturday. “I (emphasized that we
should) take away the positives from
it, continue to try and get better — the
little attention to detail is important.
Let’s build off of this and continue to
move forward.”
The area that has tripped up the
Tigers during the start to their season
— consistency — caught them again
at times in the two matchups with the
Seagulls.
But La Grande put together two of its
better efforts of the season, not backing
down from a team that not only took
second at state last year but is among
the premier programs in 4A, having
been to the title game four years in a
row and winning twice.
“They had a little bit of a twinkle
in their eye before the game that they
weren’t going to back down, and that’s
something I haven’t seen (yet this
season),” Carollo said following Friday’s
game.
The Tigers were neck-and-neck with
Seaside in the first half Friday and
used four second-quarter 3-pointers —
including three from Kaleb Myer — to
erase a four-point deficit and go up 28-
26 in the final minute of the half. The
teams were even at 28-28 at the break.
“We knew they were going to be good,
so we just wanted to go out there and
play as hard as we could just to see
what we could do,” said Myer, who had
12 points Friday and 13 in the rematch
Saturday.
A 10-0 run in the third quarter by
Seaside, capped by a layup from Conner
Langmo, put the Seagulls up 42-32 late
in the third as Seaside took advantage
of a scoring drought of more than five
minutes by the Tigers.
La Grande found an offensive spark
in the fourth to get within 47-42 after
a Brady Hutchins field goal and two
Devin Bell free throws before Seaside
pulled away.
“I was really happy with most of the
game (but) it goes back to that inconsis-
tency and playing a complete game and
not three out of four or even 3-1/2 out of
the four quarters,” Carollo said.
Bell added 11 points for the Tigers
Friday, while Cristian Mendoza scored
a team-high 14 points.
Ryan Hague scored a game-high 24
points Friday for Seaside, one of two
big offensive performances the Seagulls
received on the weekend.
The other came from Brayden
Johnson, who stepped up Saturday
with Hague in foul trouble most of the
game to score a game-high 27 points for
Seaside.
“We did a good job of recognizing
(Hague) and backed off of (Johnson)
and he rose to the occasion,” Carollo
said. “Give him credit.”
The Tigers had a rough first 10 min-
utes Saturday, going just 1-for-16 from
the floor in the first quarter and falling
behind 18-6 early in the second on a
basket by Hague.
But La Grande shot its way back into
the game, with 3-pointers by Hutchins,
Myer and Justin Jenner sparking a
13-0 run which ended with a layup by
Lukas Schelin that gave the Tigers a
19-18 lead.
La Grande maintained the one-point
edge at halftime and was up 39-34
midway through the third after two free
throws and a 3-pointer by Bell.
Seaside scored the next eight points
and took the lead for good on a Led-
ger Pugh trey late in the third. La
Grande got back as close as one, but the
Seagulls finished the win at the free-
throw line in the fourth.
See Tigers / Page 8A
LHS girls claim title at Sisters Tourney
Observer staff
LA GRANDE — The La
Grande Tigers girls basket-
ball team posted arguably
its biggest victory in four
years, winning the Sisters
Tournament Sunday with a
49-33 victory over the Banks
Braves, who a night earlier
had defeated Baker in the
tournament semifinals.
“This was really good for
us,” head coach Brian Wright
said. “We needed to see how
we were going to measure
up with 4A schools from the
west side.”
The Tigers raced out to
an 18-8 first-quarter lead
and maintained the margin
throughout. La Grande led
33-18 at halftime, and 39-28
after three quarters.
“The teams we saw (in
Sisters) are going to be con-
tending for a league playoff
(berth),” Wright said, adding
those teams could also be in
the mix for a state tourna-
ment spot. “It’s good that we
went there and played well.
The kids can see that we can
match up with these teams.”
Camryn Collman led a bal-
anced offensive attack with
12 points. Lauran Rinker
added 10 points, and Ella
Submitted photo by Suzie Collman
La Grande’s Josie Reagan, left, drives against a Molalla defender Saturday during the
semifinals of the Sisters Tournament. La Grande won the semifinal contest, 49-36.
Dunlap scored eight points.
La Grande (6-3 overall)
plays Yamhill-Carlton in the
Banks Tournament Thursday.
Saturday
TIGERS GET BY INDIANS
Camryn Collman scored 21
points Saturday, 14 of them
in the second half, as the La
Grande Tigers topped Molalla
49-36 in the semifinals of the
Sisters Tournament.
Ella Dunlap added
10 points and Kenzie Wil-
liams scored nine points, and
La Grande outscored the
Indians in every quarter to
gradually pull away for the
win.
Dunlap had eight of her
points in the first quarter
to help the Tigers to a 16-12
lead. The margin grew to
28-20 at the break before
Collman took over with a
strong second half.
LA GRANDE — Spencer
Gerst and Parker Robinson
each claimed a tournament
title, two other wrestlers
placed, and the La Grande
Tigers took fifth Friday
and Saturday at the Sierra
Nevada Classic in Reno.
Gerst, who finished one
point shy of earning the dis-
tinction of most outstand-
ing wrestler, easily won all
six of his matches at 220
pounds to lead La Grande.
The senior had five pins
in his first five matches —
each in 50 seconds or less
— and finished with a 7-2
decision over Matt Kovals-
kiy of Folsom, California.
“Spencer last weekend
(at Tri-State) really turned
a corner,” head coach Klel
Carson said. “He just
keeps continuing to work
hard and get better each
week. It’s fun to watch that
growth.”
Robinson pinned his first
three opponents at 170 on
the way to the title. His
closest match was a 6-5
decision in the semifinals
over Sean Myles of Oak-
mont, California, before
defeating Noah Gallardo of
Shadow Ridge, Nevada, in
the championship by a 4-0
decision.
“Parker’s just a gamer
and comes through in a big
moment,” Carson said. “He
came through, (and) he beat
a couple really good kids in
the tournament.”
Nathan Reed, in his first
tournament of the season,
won his first four matches
at 182 to reach the semifi-
nals before dropping two of
the final three to finish 5-2
and take fourth.
Braden Carson also won
his first four matches to
reach the semifinals, finish-
ing 5-2 on the tournament
to take fifth at 132.
Six other wrestlers each
won at least two matches
at the tournament for the
Tigers.
As a team, La Grande
scored 150 points to take
fifth in a tournament that
featured more than 80
teams from across the West.
“Everybody on the team
contributed to the team
score,” Klel Carson said.
La Grande also had a
strong showing in the girls
Sierra Nevada Classic, as
Delia Gulzow and Bella
Gulzow took second and
third, respectively.
Delia Gulzow won her
first two matches to reach
the final before settling for
second at 101. Bella Gulzow
won three matches, includ-
ing her final two by fall, in a
JOSEPH/WALLOWA GETS
SIXTH AT POMEROY
Jonah Staigle finished
first and Lute Ramsden
came in second Friday to
lead Joseph/Wallowa to a
sixth-place finish at the
Pomeroy Christmas Tour-
nament in Washington.
Staigle won all three of
his matches at 220 pounds
by fall and needed less than
a minute to finish each
match. He wrapped the
tournament with a pin of
Caleb Johnson of Orofino,
Idaho, in just 37 seconds.
Ramsden won two
matches by fall at 126 to
reach the final, where he
lost an 8-7 decision to Mick
Brown of Clarkston, Wash-
ington.
Kennison Knifong added
a 4-2 record on the day
at 145 to take fourth for
Joseph/Wallowa, which fin-
ished the tournament with
74 points.
Enterprise, which took
eighth with 51.5 points,
picked up a title from Trace
Evans, who was a perfect
3-0 at 138, including pin-
ning Clarkston’s Tanner
Lange in 1:59 in the final.
The Outlaws also got a
third-place finish from Cody
Fent, who went 3-1 at 132
pounds.
Union/Cove followed close
in ninth with 48 points. The
Bobcats were led by a trio
of third-place finishes: Gage
Martens, who went 2-2 with
two pins at 106; Carter
Blackburn, who was 5-1
with four pins at 145; and
Damon Nipper, who was 2-1
with two pins at 220.
Garrett Burns led Imbler,
which was 11th with 29.5
points, by taking first at
113. He won each of his four
matches in the round-robin
format at 113 in a different
way — one by fall, one by
technical fall, one by decision
and one by medical forfeit.
MyKail Foster went 2-2
to take fourth at 152 for the
Panthers.
On Saturday, Enterprise
took three wrestlers to the
Winter Cup Tournament in
Richland, Washington. Nevin
Goldsmith was the only one
of the trio to earn a win, go-
ing 1-2 at 170 pounds.
The teams return to ac-
tion Friday and Saturday
at the Jo-Hi Invitational in
Joseph.
Enterprise boys
fall to Nixyaawii
ENTERPRISE ROUTS
CONDON/WHEELER
By Brett Kane
Rilyn Kirkland scored 13
points Saturday, and 12 play-
ers scored in Enterprise’s
61-24 blowout win over
Condon/Wheeler at the Win-
ter Classic in Mission.
The Outlaws were up
16-11 after one quarter and
held the Blue Devils to just
two second-quarter points to
MISSION — While
Enterprise may not have
played their season’s best
game, the Nixyaawii boys
basketball squad knocked
down one of their season’s
biggest wins.
On Friday, Tyasin Burns
hit five 3-pointers and shot
9-of-12 from inside the
paint to score 36 points and
See Roundup / Page 9A
round-robin format to finish
third at 111.
“They did really well,”
Carson said of the Gulzow
sisters. “It was awesome.”
The Tigers resume action
Friday at the Rollie Lane
Invitational in Nampa,
Idaho.
EO Media Group
help the Golden Eagles
charge through their En-
terprise visitors 81-55 to
open the two-day Nixyaawii
Winter Classic.
“His teammates did a good
job of getting him the ball,”
Nixyaawii head coach Shane
Rivera said of Burns. “He’s
so fast. Once he gets cooking,
he’s impossible to guard.”
The junior point guard
See Outlaws / Page 8A