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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 2015)
WEEKEND, FEBRUARY 14-15, 2015 Sports shorts LeBron James elected VP of NBA player’s union NEW YORK (AP) — Cavaliers su- perstar LeBron James has been elected ¿ rst vice president of the National Basket- ball Players As- sociation, giving the game’s top player a leader- ship role in the union. James was elected unani- mously on Friday during the union’s annual meeting as part of All-Star weekend. A person familiar with James’ election said Clippers All- Star guard Chris Paul, the union’s president, had urged the four-time MVP to take an active role within the union. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity be- fore union executive director Michele Roberts announced the election, said James wanted to be deeply involved in future collective bargain- ing with the league. SPORTS War on 84 Bucks hold off late rally By SAM BARBEE EO Media Group Pendleton’s Caden Smith shoots the ball guarded by Hermiston’s Cole Smith and Austin Nailon (10) in the Bucks’ 62-51 win against the Bulldogs on Friday in Herm- iston. The last time the Hermiston Bulldogs played the Pendleton Buckaroos, it was a back-and-forth affair at Warberg Court the Pendle- ton boys would eventually win. Friday night in Hermiston, the game couldn’t have been more dif- ferent. The Bucks led for the ¿ nal 27 minutes of the game behind Wes Persinger’s 19 points, seven re- bounds and three blocks and they held off a late rally by Hermiston to win 62-51. “It was very important (to get ahead and stay ahead),” Persinger said after the game. “We’ve been focusing on it for awhile. It’s just good to come out and beat ‘em by (11). This game was very important because now we automatically won the series with them.” Kai Quinn added 15 points and six assists for the winners and Caden Smith chipped in with 14 points. Austin Naillon led the Bull- dogs with 13 points, Keegan Craf- ton had 10 and Chase Knutz had 11. But no one was bigger or better on the À oor than Persinger. “He was the hardest-working kid out there,” Hermiston head coach Jake McElligott said of Persinger after the game. “He was the difference-maker. He was the equalizer in the game. He worked his butt off, and I told him that after the game.” Hermiston (6-14, 3-3 CRC) nev- er led did tie the game at three after Austin Naillon hit a three-pointer to put Hermiston on the board. Pend- leton (14-7, 4-2), however, would close the quarter on an 11-6 run to seize control early and extended the lead to 12 at halftime. Hermiston never came closer than 10 points in the second half. McElligott called this week Staff photo by E.J. Harris BOYS HOOPS Pendleton 62 Hermiston 51 Morgan lifts US to win over England MILTON KEYNES, En- gland (AP) — Alex Morgan is back. The American forward scored in the 25th minute in her second start since re- turning from an ankle injury, and the U.S. FACES women defeat- ed England 1-0 on Friday night in an exhibition game. Morgan got her 50th goal in 79 international Morgan appearances, becoming the third-fastest American woman to reach the mark behind Michelle Akers (49 games) and Abby Wambach (64). The goal ended a 217-minute scoring drought for the United States, which played its second game of the year in preparing for this year’s Women’s World Cup — and its second without suspended goalkeeper Hope Solo. The Americans had won just one of their previ- ous ¿ ve matches, including a 2-0 loss to France last weekend. “I don’t think he knew whether he was going to play last year until almost training camp. Marshawn is getting to a point in his life where he may want to enjoy other things that are important to him.“ — Michael Robinson Former Seattle Seahawks FB and friend of RB Marshawn Lynch con- fi rming in a radio interview that Lynch has not decided whether or not he’ll play again next season. Lynch has one year remaining on his deal with Seattle, and Robinson said he thinks he’ll end up playing out the contract. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1975 — Julius Erving of the New York Nets scores 63 points in a 176-166 quadru- ple overtime loss to the San Diego Conquistadors. Erv- ing sets an ABA record by shooting 25-for-46 from the ¿ eld and the 342 points are an ABA record. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS GIRLS HOOPS Hermiston 66 Pendleton 57 See BOYS HOOPS/3B Bulldogs run to victory Hermiston transition game sinks Pendleton By ERIK SKOPIL East Oregonian The third quarter of Friday’s War on 84 girls basketball game might have ren- dered Hermiston’s pre-game layup lines obsolete. The Bulldogs got plenty of chip-shot practice to open the second half, using a slew of fast-break run outs to bury rival Pendleton on its way to a 66-57 victory at the Dawg House. With a slim cushion out of half, Class 5A’s second-ranked team’s advantage got plenty comfy thanks to a 17-5 run to open the second half. Much of the Bulldogs (18-3, 6-0 CRC) success began at the de- fensive end. That’s where Hermiston put the kibosh on the Bucks (13-8, 3-3 CRC) aim of hanging around with stop after stop that allowed a rash of uncontested gimmes. The ef¿ ciency at which the Bulldogs transitioned from defense to offense was just what Hermiston coach Steve Hoffert had hoped for. “We forced bad shots, got quick re- bounds and we were gone,” he said. “We talked (at the half) about defense having to be the difference in the game and then went out in the third quarter and did ex- actly what we had to do.” “We wanted to keep pushing them un- til they were done,” said sophomore Kyn- zee Padilla, who had eight points in the third. “The ¿ rst ¿ ve minutes of the quar- ter we wanted to go until we push them over and they fell.” With the victory the Bulldogs locked down a share of their ¿ fth consecutive Columbia River Conference crown. Now holding a three-game edge on the ¿ eld with three remaining, things would have to go bonkers for that not to become yet another outright win. The reign of dominance extends over the Buckaroos in particular. Hermiston has now downed Pendleton 24 straight times. Not since February 18, 2006 have the Buckaroos gotten the better of the Bulldogs. “That’s a long stretch to beat some- body,” Hoffert said. “We don’t talk about it much... it’s obviosuly that we’re very proud of. It’s something that’s very dif¿ - cult to do. You hope you can beat some- body three times in a row let alone 24 times in a row.” Pendleton coach Michelle Gomez knew her team place themselves in an inauspicious position after they fumbled See GIRLS HOOPS/3B Staff photo by E.J. Harris Hermiston’s Maddy Juul puts up a shot guarded by Pendleton’s Kristin Williams and Marlene Bodmer in the Bulldogs’ 66-57 win against the Bucks on Friday in Hermiston. Prep Wrestling +HUPLVWRQMXVWLQFKHVIURP¿UVWDWGLVWULFWVDIWHU'D\ By MIKE WEBER For the East Oregonian HOOD RIVER — The Hermiston Bull- dogs have 22 wrestlers with an opportunity to qualify for the state tournament and are 1.5 points away from winning the District 4 title at Hood River Valley High School. Hermiston, guided by third-year head coach Shaun Williams, had an incredible performance with most of their 26 team members advancing to compete Saturday in the nine-team Columbia River Confer- ence/Intermountain Conference Regional Tournament. The defending state champi- on Bulldogs notched 145.5 points in team scoring to hold onto second place behind front-runner Redmond with 147. Pendle- ton has six wrestlers in contention for trips to state. “We did a fairly good job and every- one competed well today,” Williams said. “Some of the younger guys wrestled very well and they upset people in their match- es, which was good to see. We have to compete hard and win some more match- es on Saturday. We don’t have anything clinched yet. We’re all happy now, but if we don’t get the job done Saturday, then we’ll be crying.” Hermiston has 11 boys in today’s semi- ¿ nal matches and if they win, they’ll move on to the state tournament Feb. 26-28 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland. Bulldog wrestlers in the semis who are hopeful of advancing to state include Jesse Rodelo, Sam Colbray, John-Henry Line, Mitchell Lincoln, Bob Coleman, Brock McDonough, Devin Bonser, Robert Crane, See WRESTLING/2B Photo by Mike Weber for the East Oregonian Hermiston sophomore Oscar Lopez has a strong per- formance in getting a win over Redmond’s Davin Curry during a 132 weight class match Friday in the Colum- bia River Conference/Intermountain Conference Class 5A District 4 Regional Tournament at Hood River Valley High School.