Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2015)
SPORTS TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2015 Sports shorts Ohio city changes name to clarify game allegiance TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio city of Oregon is adding a twist to its name and declaring its allegiance to its home state Buckeyes as they face the Oregon Ducks in college football’s champion- ship game next week. The may- or of the To- ledo suburb announced Monday that the city will be known over the next week as “Oregon, Ohio: Buckeyes on the Bay, City of Duck Hunters.” The move comes after a petition called for the Ohio city to make a temporary name change in honor of the Buckeyes. City leaders decided against dropping its name entirely while also de- claring it will be “The Ohio State Buckeye Week.” The name debate in Ore- gon, Ohio, started after two natives of the city who don’t normally cheer for Ohio State started the petition. One of the men is more into soccer and, perhaps shock- ingly, the other roots for rival Michigan. “Call it anything but Ore- gon,” Matt Squibb, one of its organizers, said. College football Lone loss provided valuable lesson for Ducks Title run spurred on by home defeat to Wildcats By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press EUGENE — When the Oregon Ducks look back at their lone loss of the season, sure there’s lingering disappointment, but not a lot of second-guessing. Instead, some players have pointed to the Arizona loss as the turning point of their sea- son, when they woke up and revived for their march to the national championship. “I think we learned a lot in terms of having that loss early in the year and kind of experi- encing failure a little bit,” quarterback Marcus Mariota said a few games afterward. “Now that we have had our backs against the wall, with high intensity.” Lesson learned, Oregon will play for the national title next Monday night against Ohio State in Arlington, Texas. The second-seeded Ducks (13-1) defeated Florida State in college fourth-seeded Buckeyes (13-1) upset Alabama. Back in early October, Oregon was undefeat- ed and ranked second in The Associated Press poll. The Ducks were boosted by a key victory earlier in the season over Michigan State and looking to avoid the pitfalls that had thwarted them the season before, when late-season loss- (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) es against Arizona and Stanford took them out Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota holds up See DUCKS/2B Hollywood Park track in Inglewood, on the edge of Los Angeles. “I think without question it was probably not offi ciated correctly in my estimation.” — Jim Caldwell Detroit Lions coach on Sunday’s fourth quarter defensive pass inter- fernce call on Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens. Hitchenes was fl agged for interfering with a Detroit receiver but the fl ag was picked up and Dallas went on to win the game 20-17. De- troit was eliminated from the NFL postseason. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1999 — The NBA and players union reached an ac- cord that ended the 191-day lockout. The season, which was in jeopardy of being completely cancelled, was reduced to a 50-game season. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com the Rose Bowl trophy after a 59-20 win over Florida State. HERMISTON NBA Edmiston breaks Hermiston shooting record Bulldog junior guard drills 10 threes in win over Kennewick East Oregonian Rams owner plans Los Angeles stadium project INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — A development group that includes a company controlled by the owner of the St. Louis Rams announced Monday FACES plans to build an 80,000-seat stadium in the Los Angeles suburbs that could become home for an Kroenke NFL team. The propos- al that envisions a stadium rising on the site of a former horse track again raised the hopes of fans that Los Ange- les could end its two-decade drought without an NFL team. It becomes the latest in a string of stadium proposals in the Los Angeles area since the 1994 exit of the Rams and Raiders from Southern California. The proposal stands out, however, because of the involvement of St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke. His company, The Kroenke Group, has entered a joint venture with Stockbridge Capital Group, which had been developing a 238-acre tract of homes, parks and 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS AP Photo/Don Ryan Blazers guard Damian Lillard, right, drives on Los Angeles Lakers guard Ron- nie Price during the fi rst half of an NBA basketball game in Portland Monday. Lillard lifts Blazers Portland point guard scores 39 points in victory over Lakers LaMarcus Aldridge added 21 points, and reserve center Meyers Leonard had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Portland. Jordan Hill led Los Angeles (11-24) with 23 points and 14 rebounds. Five By NICK DASCHEL Associated Press PORTLAND — Damian Lil- lard scored 39 points and made the go-ahead basket with 36 seconds remaining as the Port- land Trail Blazers rallied from a Portland 98 Jeremy Lin with 14 points. Kobe Bryant, the Lakers’ leading scorer at 23.6 points per game, stayed home for a sched- uled day of rest. It was the fourth game Bryant has skipped after sustaining two leg injuries the past two seasons. 91 lead with 43 seconds remain- to beat the Los Angeles Lakers LA Lakers ing on two free throws by Lin. 98-94 Monday night. But then Lillard immediately Lillard hit four 3-pointers, and went to work, driving to the bas- scored 16 points during the fourth ket for the go-ahead layup 7 sec- quarter to lead the Blazers (27-8). He has scored at least 39 points in three of onds later. See BLAZERS/2B his past nine games. 94 Playoffs give college football better chance to get it right T he new NCAA football playoff have in common this week? They all system isn’t perfect. It might take lost their bowl games and in three of the eight teams for that to happen. But based upon its inaugural year, it is western division was 2-5 going head- off to a good start. to-head against major programs from Otherwise, there’s a 99 percent across the country. Had not Texas A & M chance Alabama and Florida State would and Arkansas — teams which struggled be facing off January 12 instead of through the season and ended up at Oregon and Ohio State. the bottom of the division — not won, Although in some ratings it would have been downright Oregon ended up ahead of FSU, embarrassing. the old system could never Or, as ESPN columnist Ted have overlooked the undefeated Miller noted, the SEC West, Seminoles. which was slated to seriously And it’s also a sure thing poll- out-muscle its opponents, simply based biases would have dictated did a face plant. the presence of the SEC in a two- It’s possible the SEC has team playoff. yet to come to grips with the George reality that beset them in the At one point during the 2014 Murdock campaign, the SEC completely current campaign. There’s no Sports dominated the upper end of the question reality was lost on FSU polls and both the pundits and the quarterback Jameis Winston talking heads were jubilant. who, in the wake of a 39-point loss to the When the teams in your conference Ducks, told reporters the “game could are overrated, it isn’t hard to get those have gone either way.” poll numbers. The PAC-12 and Big Ten, How many times this season were conferences which get far less respect we reminded the western division of the than they deserve, turned a few heads SEC was literally dominating college during the bowl season, as did a few football? And while those programs members of the Big-12 although certainly deserve a historical measure perennial powers Oklahoma and Texas of respect, what do Alabama, Ole Miss, See MURDOCK/2B Auburn, LSU and Mississippi State all KENNEWICK, Wash. — Swish. Swish. Swish. And repeat that sound 14 times more. Hermiston (10-2) made a school-record 17 three point shots Saturday, junior Jansen Edmiston made 10 of them — also a school-record — as Hermiston won its 10 consecutive game 85-56 over Kennewick (WA). “That’s just crazy, I know,” Hermiston coach Steve Hoffert said. “That’s the most I’ve Girls seen in 30 years of coaching.” Hoops The sharpshooting junior shot at an amazing 10-for-14 clip from dis- Hermiston Edmiston made seven of the 10 in the 85 26 halftime lead. The Bulldogs made 11 three point shots in the opening 16 minutes. “She’s the type of kid that that can happen to,” Hoffert said of Edmis- Kennewick ton. “We’ve got a few kids that can score a bunch and tonight was just her night.” The hot shooting proved con- tagious. Tavin Headings, Sara Ramirez and Sydney Moore all also caught thelong bomb bug. Edmiston added eight assists, contributing in over 50 points of Hermiston offense. Ramirez was next best with 17 points and Heddings had 15. The 85 points were a Bulldog season-high. The pre- vious best was 67 versus Hanford (WA). Hermiston plays at La Grande on tonight at 7 p.m. ——— 56 HERMISTON 85, KENNEWICK (WA) 56 HHS (10-2) 22 26 23 14 — 85 KHS (2-4) 12 14 16 14 — 56 HERMISTON — Moore 9, Foley 4, Juul 2, Edmiston 34, Padilla 0, Heddings 15, Ramirez 17, Harrison 2, Lind 2, Anrdreason 0, Gilbert 0. KENNEWICK — Deng 13, Templeton 2, Flander 12, Jimenez 2, Chavez 1, Kima 3, Quast 1, Norwood 17, Osmondson 5. 3-point fi eld goals — HHS 17, KHS 1. Free throws — HHS 10-14, KHS 19-24. Fouls — HHS 20, KHS 16. Prep Basketball Knights rebound with overtime win Irrigon outlasts Toledo night after 19-game win streak ended East Oregonian TOLEDO — Irrigon coach Mitch Thompson was pleased with the “resilience” his Irrigon Knights showed one night after Dayton snapped the team’s 19-game win streak. Once again facing one of the state’s top teams, this time Class 2A’s Toledo, the Knights received late game heroics from its top player. Defending 2A player of the year Adrian Romero drove the lane and converted an old-fashioned three-point play to earn the Vikings a 76- 73 double overtime win over the Boomers Saturday. “It was important for the guys to bounce back like we did,” Thompson said. The Knights gained possession with the score knot- ted at 73-73 before draining clock to set up Romero’s game-winner. After more than 50 seconds ran off, Romero slashed to the basket to score with seven sec- onds remaining. Toledo senior guard David Ammons forced overtime with a 35-footer at the buzzer of regulation that made the score 62-62. See PREPS/2B
