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