THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2015
Sports shorts
2-point conversion
generated biggest
Seahawks quake
SEATTLE (AP) —
Earthquake experts with the
Network have analyzed the
CenturyLink Field shaking
during the Seahawks’ win
over the Packers in Sunday’s
NFC title game.
The
experts say
the biggest
event was
caused
by all the
jumping and dancing that
followed the touchdown and
2-point conversion as Seattle
rallied at the end of regula-
tion time.
The University of Wash-
ington’s Steve Malone calls
it a “dance quake” generated
by bouncing fans.
Malone says that dance
quake was the biggest seis-
mic signal associated with
a Seahawks game — even
bigger than the 2011 “beast
quake” that followed a Mar-
shawn Lynch touchdown
run and originally drew
the attention of earthquake
trackers.
Other earthshaking events
Sunday were Seattle’s fake
winning touchdown in over-
time.
Nadal wins 5-set
2nd-round match
at Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia
(AP) — Rafael Nadal perse-
vered through stomach cramps
Tim Smyczek 6-2, 3-6, 6-7
(2), 6-3, 7-5 in a second-round
match Wednes-
FACES day at the Aus-
tralian Open.
Nadal came
into the tour-
nament having
played in only
four tournaments
Nadal
since Wimble-
don due to a
right wrist injury and appendix
surgery.
At the end of the third
game of the third set, Nadal
called for medical assistance
and was given medication
for stomach pain.
Serving for the third set
at 5-4, Nadal had a dou-
ble-fault on break point.
Smyczek clinched the
tiebreaker and the third set
with an ace.
“I think people
somehow get a
skewed view of
Tom Brady, that
he’s just a clean-
cut guy that does
everything right
and never says
a bad word to
anyone. We
know him to be
otherwise.”
— Richard Sherman
Seattle Seahawks
cornerback on New
England Patriot quar-
terback Tom Brady. The
comment was made in
reference to the team’s
meeting in 2012 when
the Seahawks rallied to
beat the Patriots 24-23.
Sherman says Brady
mocked Sherman and
his teammates following
the game during the
postgame handshakes.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1920 — The New York
Yankees announce they will
form numbers, according to
the player’s position in bat-
ting order.
1962 — Bob Feller and
Jackie Robinson are elect-
ed into the Baseball Hall of
Fame. Robinson, who broke
baseball’s racial barrier, is the
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PENDLETON
Bucks more than Big 3
Pendleton takes
team-first approach
into league play
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
The Big 3.
It’s a concept that has enamored NBA gen-
eral managers and fans for the better part of a
decade, with the basic tenet that three dominant
players are needed to deliver a championship.
Following its own Big 3, the Pendleton
boys basketball team enters Columbia River
Conference play on Friday with a No. 5 OSAA
ranking that has some team observers hoping
for more than just the program’s second league
The Bucks are led by sophomore Caden
Smith with 16.4 points a game this season,
followed by seniors Wes Persinger (12.1) and
Sonny Green (10.6). Persinger, a 6-foot-6 post,
is adding 9.4 rebounds per game and has six
double-doubles in 14 games. All three are
“We just play to win,” Persinger said. “We
don’t care about the stats, we don’t care about
who has the most points. We just play as a team
and try to our best every night.”
Persinger and his Pendleton teammates un-
derstand the Big 3 only works with a surround-
coach Brian Broaddus has and what makes
those within the locker room feel like the
Bucks (9-5) are in good shape as they prepare
for the CRC opener on Friday against Hood
River Valley.
“I try and appreciate the guys that do the
dirty work. The guys that get the loose balls,
the rebounds,” Broaddus said. “The kids that
score, they get their name in the paper, every-
body knows that, but to be a great team there
are a lot of jobs that have to be done and none
are more important than others. Some people
are a gifted shooter, but it takes the guys with
the grit to get the dirty work done.”
Forward James Bradt and guard Kai Quinn,
and have become keys to the Bucks’ success
despite averaging a combined 12.5 points a
game. Post Levi Winterton and guards Quinn
Cockburn and TJ Hancock have also carved
out unheralded niches off the bench.
“Every team needs those kind of guys be-
See BUCKS/2B
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton’s Wes Persinger puts up a shot in front of Baker’s Logan Sand in the Bucks’ 70-46
win last week. Persinger and the Bucks enter Columbia River Conference play this week as
Class 5A’s fi fth-ranked team.
CRC Basketball
Bulldogs need quick turnaround to defend crown
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
The Hermiston Bulldogs haven’t
lost a Columbia River Conference
game since Feb. 16, 2013.
The Bulldogs have won the last
two CRC titles and three of the four
decided since the conference’s cre-
ation for the 2010-11 season.
But after getting a late start on
preparations due to the football
team’s state championship that ex-
tended its season by four weeks,
Hermiston’s run on top could be
coming to a close without a quick
turnaround.
The Bulldogs (3-11) enter Fri-
day’s league opener at The Dalles
on a three-game losing streak and
haven’t won back-to-back games
head coach Jake McElligott, who
led nearby Irrigon to the 2A state
NBA
championship last year.
The Bulldogs, which returned
no all-league selections to the court
this season, are third in the CRC in
average scoring with 45.9 points a
game and second in defense at 57.5.
But Hermiston has shown poten-
See CRC/2B
College Basketball
Utes drub
Cougars
Phoenix
backcourt
blasts Blazers
Associated Press
Bledsoe, Thomas light
up shorthanded Portland
Associated Press
PHOENIX — Season-high points by
Eric Bledsoe with 33 and Isaiah Thomas
with 27 saved the Phoenix
Suns after they watched
evaporate but still topped
the Portland Trail Blazers
118-113 on Wednesday
night.
The Blazers (31-12)
went up 110-105 with
2:22 to play on a 3-point-
er from leading scorer
86
Phoenix
118
64
Portland
113
ished with 27 points. But
the Suns went on a 13-3
run to close the game and win their seventh
straight home game.
Portland got 22 points each for Damian
Lillard and Wesley Matthews and 10 re-
bounds from Batum.
The Suns (26-18) have their longest home
See BLAZERS/2B
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)
— Brandon Taylor had 18
points and seven assists, and
Delon Wright added 17 points
and eight assists to help No.
12 Utah beat Washington
State 86-64 on Wednesday
night.
After
losing to
then-No.
# 12 Utah
10 Arizo-
na 69-51
last Sat-
urday,
the Utes
(15-3, 5-1
WAZZU
Pac-12)
rebounded
in a big
way by re-
turning to their winning ways
at home, where Utah has de-
feated unranked opponents 31
straight times.
Jordan Loveridge scored
14 points for Utah, which
played without Jakob Poeltl
(ankle) but exploited a 20-1
edge in points off turnovers to
See WSU/2B
AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
Phoenix Suns’ Goran Dragic goes up for a shot as he
gets past Portland Trail Blazers’ Dorell Wright, right,
during the fi rst half of an NBA basketball game Wednes-
day in Phoenix.