8A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2016
CONTACT US
FOLLOW US
facebook.com/
DailyAstorianSports
Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Pickleball event
falls on Saturday
The Daily Astorian
A Pickleball special event is
planned for Saturday at the Camp
Rilea gymnasium, 333168 Patriot
Way in Warrenton.
The event will include a ref-
eree clinic and a scorekeeper
clinic from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost
is $5.
Pickleball is a racket sport that
combines elements of badminton,
tennis, and table tennis.
Seahawks’
Sherman fined
for hit vs. Buffalo
Associated Press
RENTON, Wash. — Seat-
tle Seahawks cornerback Richard
Sherman confirmed Thursday he’s
been fined by the NFL for his hit
on Buffalo kicker Dan Carpenter
in last Monday’s game.
Sherman said that the expla-
nation from the league makes
it nearly impossible for him to
appeal the $9,115 fine. Sherman
said the league’s justification in
its letter to him was that his hit on
Carpenter as he attempted to block
a field goal attempt at the end of
the first half came after the whistle
was blown.
Sherman said he won’t appeal
the fine. “It would be a long,
thoughtless process,” Sherman
said. “Their logic is impeccable so
there’s not really a fight. I’m still
fine with everything.”
Marsh wants
stolen card
collection back
Associated Press
AP Photo/Thomas Boyd
SEATTLE — Seattle Sea-
hawks linebacker Cassius Marsh
is pleading for the person who
stole his valuable collection of
“Magic: The Gathering” cards to
return it.
Marsh tells The Seattle Times
the collection is valued at $20,000
to $25,000. He says he was at a
nightclub in downtown Seattle
on Tuesday night when someone
smashed his car window and stole
two backpacks. His card collec-
tion was in one and his team-is-
sued iPad was in the other.
Marsh said that playing the
popular fantasy trading card game
helps him relax.
He has offered a pair of free
tickets to Seattle’s next home
game to anyone who returns the
cards.
Game maker Wizards of the
Coast has sent Marsh a care pack-
age of cards in the meantime.
Browns take
another loss
Associated Press
BALTIMORE — Getting off to
the worst start in franchise history
is one thing.
Being historically bad on a
grand scale is quite another, and
the winless Cleveland Browns
now have only six games left to
avoid that kind of infamy.
Facing the team that once called
Cleveland home, this Browns
team stayed competitive for a half
before falling 28-7 to the Balti-
more Ravens on Thursday night.
That left the Browns at 0-10,
their worst start to a season since
Cleveland joined the NFL in 1950.
The 2008 Detroit Lions are the
only team in NFL history that went
winless over a 16-game schedule.
And now the Browns are hot on
their trail.
SCOREBOARD
Oregon Ducks guard Dylan Ennis (31), pulls a rebound under pressure from Northwest Christian’s Jack Hackman in an NCAA col-
lege basketball exhibition game in Eugene. Oregon defeated Northwest Christian University 86-51.
Ennis relishing chance for
full season with Oregon
By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer
I
n becoming Oregon’s loudest cheerleader
on the bench last season, injured guard
Dylan Ennis found his voice as a leader.
He was a graduate transfer from Vil-
lanova when he arrived in Eugene last year,
expecting to play his final college season for
the Ducks. But a stress fracture in his foot
kept him off the court.
Ennis appeared in just two games before
aggravating the injury. He learned he would
need surgery, effectively ending his season —
and perhaps his college career.
“I was so shocked. I couldn’t believe it
when they told me,” Ennis said. “I thought
that with a broken foot I wouldn’t be able to
walk.”
He could only watch as Oregon won a
school-record 31 games while claiming the
Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles.
The Ducks earned their first No. 1 seed in the
NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Elite
Eight for the first time since 2007.
“Down the line I realized I had to try to
help the team any which way I could,” Ennis
said. “But those first couple times when we
lost — it wasn’t the losses that hurt, it was
how we were reacting. I knew I wanted to
play so bad, and I started seeing things, like
we took it for granted. Guys wouldn’t come
UP NEXT: DUCKS
• Army Knights at Oregon Ducks
• Today, 8 p.m. TV: PACN
out and play hard every day, and they would
tell you the same thing.”
So what did Ennis do? He started cheering.
And yelling. And shouting. Whatever it took.
“What I realized being on the sideline was
how big of a voice I could have,” he said. “I’d
been a vocal leader all my life, but doing it
from the sideline was something different.
With me coming back this year and playing,
I think it really helped. And I think it’s been
contagious: Dillon Brooks has started to be a
more vocal leader, and Chris Boucher. Even
Casey Benson and Jordan Bell.”
This season the Ducks are ranked No.
5 in The Associated Press preseason Top
25. They’ve been selected to finish atop the
league in the Pac-12’s annual media poll for
the first time in school history.
Oregon returns four of five starters from
last season’s team, including Brooks, a junior
forward who led the squad with 16.7 points
per game.
Brooks is expected to miss a few games at
the start of the season because of a foot injury.
The Ducks open at home Friday night against
Army.
It is expected that Tyler Dorsey, who aver-
aged 13.4 points and 4.3 rebounds in 35 starts
as a freshman last season, will start with Ennis
and Benson, as the Ducks go with a three-
guard lineup in Brooks’ absence.
“We’ve got good depth at the guard spots,
and I think those guys will look at that as a
challenge to pick up the areas that Dillon
would generally do,” he said.
Ennis relishes the challenge. He laughs
when asked his actual position: He sees him-
self as a point guard, but he’ll play wherever
he’s needed.
In fact, he’s just happy for the opportunity.
Oregon applied to the NCAA to allow
Ennis to play one more season for the Ducks
after the broken foot. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound
guard had taken a rather circuitous route to
Eugene, playing his freshman season at Rice
before transferring to Villanova, then finding
his way to Oregon as a graduate transfer.
Currently pursuing a master’s degree in
conflict and dispute resolution, Ennis heard in
June that he had received an additional year
of eligibility.
He called it one of the best days of his life.
“I’m one of the stories where I wasn’t a
one-and-done,” he said. “I wasn’t a big tal-
ent to come out of a big city. I’m one of the
ones that had to go the long route. Most peo-
ple have to go the long route. It’s all about
perseverance.”
NCAA women’s basketball field open
UConn Huskies
not quite so mighty
PREP SCHEDULE
By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer
FRIDAY
Football — Class 4A Quarterfinal:
Cottage Grove at Astoria, 7 p.m.; Wash-
ington 1B Playoff: Naselle at Rainier
Christian, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Football — Washington 2B Playoff:
Toledo vs. Ilwaco, 5 p.m., at Centralia
HS
It wouldn’t be all that big a sur-
prise if women’s college basketball
coaches across the country had UCo-
nn’s graduation date circled on their
calendars last spring.
They were happy to see the Hus-
kies’ mighty trio, led by Breanna Stew-
art, head to the WNBA after winning
four consecutive national champion-
ships and their last 75 straight games.
Now for the first time in a while,
it appears the road to the title — that
will be played in Dallas this year — is
more wide open.
“I think it will be an exciting year,”
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw
said. “This was the year nobody lost
a lot of talent except for Connecticut.
So I think that really evens things out.”
Unlike the past decade or so where
there was a limited number of teams
that realistically had a chance for
the title, this season there appears
to be a lot more, including last sea-
son’s surprise Final Four participant
Washington.
“I definitely think we opened a lot
of eyes with the run we had last year
and that’s a great thing for the sport,”
Washington coach Mike Neighbors
said. “I’ve had coaches tell me that
we gave them hope they could do
something similar.”
Washington, Syracuse and Ore-
gon State all made unexpected runs to
the Final Four, marking the first time
since 1994 three newcomers reached
the national semifinals. Even though
Geno Auriemma has to replace
three starters, no one is counting the
11-time champions.
“They are still going to be really
good,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz
said. “He’s still got a lot of McDon-
ald’s All-Americans on that team.”