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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2015)
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 SPORTS Sports shorts College Basketball EUGENE — The Oregon High School Rodeo Association (OHSRA) begins its spring season with a doubleheader rodeo in Eugene starting on Friday and running through Sunday. Thirty members of the Intermountain team, which comprises of schools in Umatilla and Morrow Counties, will be in attendance as they look to earn points toward the VHDVRQ¿QDOV Five doubleheader rodeos make up the spring season, and the Intermountain team will take its turn as host on April 24-26 at Farm-City Arena in Hermiston. 7KHVWDWH¿QDOVZLOO be held June 10-13 in Prineville, where contestants can earn berths at the National High School Finals Rodeo to be held July 12-18 in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Oregon moves into sole possession of 3rd place 'XFNVULVHDERYH%XIIV High school rodeo in the chutes )RUPHU7UDLO Blazers dies at 52 PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Jerome Kersey, the small forward who played his ¿UVW1%$VHDVRQVZLWK the Portland Trail Blazers and helped the San Antonio Spurs win the 1999 title, has died. He was 52. The Trail FACES Blazers FRQ¿UPHG Wednesday night that Kersey had died, but didn’t provide details. Kersey A team ambassador, Kersey appeared Tuesday with fellow former Blaz- ers Terry Porter and Brian Grant at a Portland school in celebration of African American History Month. Kersey averaged 10.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 17 seasons in the NBA with Portland, Golden State, the Los Angeles Lakers, Seattle, San Antonio and Milwau- kee. He helped the Blazers reach the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992. “Instead of being sad about it, I think about all the awesome times we had and good things we did and stuff that I think he’d be proud of today.“ — Dale Earnhardt Jr. NASCAR driver ac- knowlinging the 14th an- niversary of the passing of his racing-legend fa- ther, which was Wednes- day. Earnhardt Jr. is the defending champion at the Daytona 500, which kicks off the NASCAR season on Sunday. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1928 — Canada wins the gold medal in hockey at the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Cana- da, represented by the 1926 Toronto University team UHFHLYHV D E\H WR WKH ¿QDO URXQG,QWKH¿QDOURXQGWKH Canadians beat Sweden 11- 0, Britain 14-0 and Switzer- land 13-0. 1984 — Phil and Steve Mahre of the United States EHFRPH WKH ¿UVW EURWKHUV WR ¿QLVK LQ DQ 2O\PSLF event, the men’s slalom, at the Winter Games in Saraje- vo, Yugoslavia. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Associated Press AP Photo/Chris Pietsch Oregon’s Joseph Young goes for a shot during fi rst half in Eugene Wednesday during Oregon’s 73-60 win. EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Joseph Young scored 23 points and Oregon held off several Colorado rallies in the second half for a 73-60 victory on Wednesday night. Dillon Brooks added 14 points for the Ducks (19-8, 9-5), who took over sole pos- session of third place in the Pac-12 Confer- ence with UCLA’s loss to Arizona State. Elgin Cook had 13 points and Dwayne Ben- jamin added 11 points and 13 rebounds. The Buffaloes (12-13, 5-8), who whittled DSRLQWGH¿FLWGRZQWR¿YHODWHLQWKHVHF ond half, were led by Askia Booker with 20 points. Wesley Gordon added 14 and Josh Scott 10 for Colorado. The Ducks were out- rebounded 45-37 by the Buffaloes, 20-12 on the Oregon offensive glass, but took advantage of 16 turnovers to hold off Colorado. Oregon led 49-32 in the second half when Booker, who had 14 Colorado points after the break, fu- eled an 8-0 run that start- ed the comeback for the Buffaloes. Xavier Johnson’s 3-pointer with 4:10 to play pulled Colorado as close as it would get at 63-58, but Brooks answered with his own DVWKH'XFNV¿QLVKHGWKHJDPHRQD run. &RORUDGRWRRNFRQWUROHDUO\E\KLWWLQJ¿YH RILWV¿UVWQLQHVKRWVIRUDQOHDG,WTXLFN ly evaporated after seven straight points from Young, who sparked a 24-4 run. 73 60 STANFIELD 6WDQ¿HOGFODLPVGLVWULFWELG Watson’s free throw ensure Tigers will play Friday By SAM BARBEE EO Media Group )RUWKH¿UVWWLPHLQVL[\HDUVWKH6WDQ¿HOG girls basketball team won a postseason game. The Tigers took a ten-point lead into half- time, but had to hold on for dear life as the Culver Bulldogs late run made things inter- esting, before holding on for 26-22 squeaker Tuesday at Armand Larive Middle School. 6WDQ¿HOGFOLQFKHVWKHIRXUVHHGKHDGHGLQWRWR Friday’s district tournament. 1RSOD\HUUHFRUGHGGRXEOH¿JXUHVFRULQJ Culver’s Hannah Lewis led all scorers with nine points, and Bailey Watson and Cynthia Cu- GIRLS HOOPS ULHOOHG6WDQ¿HOGZLWK¿YH points apiece. “We’re all hyped,” sophomore guard Wat- Stanfi eld son said, whose free WKURZ JDYH 6WDQ¿HOG D PXFKQHHGHG ¿YHSRLQW lead down the stretch, . “At the beginning of the season, we didn’t expect Culver this. It’s crazy. It hasn’t happen for six years, since 2009. We’re pretty excited. This hasn’t happened for a long time.” The win was a culmination of a series of hurdles, as head coach Daniel Sharp put it, for a team and a program that has been a doormat in the 2A Columbia Basin Conference — and before that the Blue Mountain Conference — IRU\HDUV7KDWWHDPZDVWKH¿YHVHHGLQ the district tournament, so the 2014-15 Tigers have already made headway. “We’ve talked about overcoming hurdles,” 6KDUS VDLG ³<RX ZLQ WKDW ¿UVW JDPH RI WKH season, okay. (We) win the second game, we got two. Now we need a league game. We got that hurdle. Now we’re in the heat of a battle and make it to kinda districts and we play on Monday night. It was always little hurdles the whole time. They haven’t dominated at all, but they’ve just overcome those little hurdles and all those little things help build a program and help kids get excited about basketball.” The game itself was a tale of two halves. See TIGERS/2B 26 22 Sam Barbee photo Stanfi eld’s lone senior Ashlee O’Neill (12) drives as Culver’s Jessica Johnson closely de- fends during the second half of Stanfi eld’s 26-22 sqeaker over the Bulldogs on Wednesday night in Hermiston. Prep Boys Basketball Rockets lift off, soar past TigerScots Pilot Rock upsets Weston-McEwen to grab CBC berth By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian HERMISTON — In two pre- vious meetings this season, no fewer than 20 points separated the Weston-McEwen TigerScots and Pilot Rock Rockets boys basketball teams at game’s end. In their Columbia Basin Confer- ence district tournament game on Wednesday night, no more than 10 points came between the two at any point. And when the dust settled on a wild back-and-forth fourth quarter, it was the Rockets celebrating a 59- 58 win that more than made up for a showing, Willing- pair of earlier lopsid- BOYS HOOPS ham lofted a jumper ed defeats. from just inside the “We just had to free-throw line that believe that we were the better team,” said Pilot Rock Weston-McEwen bounced around the circumference of the Rockets senior Dillon rim before dropping Fritz, who along with with :15 left. senior Justin Willing- In a hectic series ham paced the team with 17 points apiece. “It was all of events, each team turned the ball over in the next 11 seconds, leaving about believing.” “We were just pumped,” said the TigerScots inbounding the ball Willingham, who also was a big near their own baseline with :04 part of Pilot Rock’s 45-23 rebound- on the clock. The pass came in to ing advantage. “Our underclassmen Mikesell, who drove to the rim but really wanted to win it for our se- FRXOGQ¶W¿QLVKZLWK:LOOLQJKDPDQG niors and we just played great as a the rest of the Rocket defense clos- ing in. team.” “Let’s face it, the Achilles heel Weston-McEwen had beaten Pi- lot Rock 77-40 and 49-29 already for our team (this season) is when this season, and with 44 seconds to another team goes on a run we play, Shyler Mikesell appeared to bowed down,” said Pilot Rock right the balance for the TigerScots coach Cory Anderson. “Tonight we (10-14). His three-pointer put them answered their runs, and I couldn’t ahead 58-57, but with 18 seconds be more proud.” 59 58 The Rockets (7-13) didn’t launch right away, and Weston-McEwen (10-14) pushed an early lead to nine points in the second quarter before WKH 5RFNHWV ¿QLVKHG WKH ODVW WKUHH minutes of the half on a 6-2 run to pull within 26-21 at intermission. Pilot Rock continued its mo- mentum in the third quarter, and went on a 16-2 run that featured two three-pointers by Bryson Pierce and another from Chris Weinke, and was capped by a three-point play from Fritz at the 4:12 mark. Pilot Rock led 38-28 at that SRLQW EXW WKH 7LJHU6FRWV ¿QLVKHG the frame on a 9-2 run of their own to make it a one-basket game head- ed into the fourth at 40-37. 7KH 5RFNHWV VWUXFN ¿UVW LQ WKH fourth, but the TigerScots were able chip away and knot the score at 44- all with 6:48 to play. See ROCKETS/2B
