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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2015)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Saturday, March 7, 2015 HEPPNER Boomers stall Mustangs Toledo runs clock, holds off Heppner in fourth quarter By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian PENDLETON — The Toledo Boomers completely abandoned their offense in the fourth quarter, but still managed to pull away from the Heppner Mustangs for a 49-41 win in the 2A boys EDVNHWEDOO VWDWH VHPL¿QDOV RQ)ULGD\QLJKWDW3HQGOHWRQ Convention Center. Holding a three-point OHDG HQWHULQJ WKH ¿QDO VWDQ- za, the Boomers attempted RQO\RQH¿HOGJRDORYHUWKH last eight minutes. The attempt didn’t even register in the statistics, though, as Toledo’s David Ammons was fouled going to the rim and con- BOYS HOOPS verted one of two free throws to Toledo push the lead to 38- 33 with 6:26 to play. ) U R P Heppner there the Boomers didn’t even think about shooting, passing up open lanes to the rim at every op- portunity. “If you’ve seen us throughout the year we’re UXQ DQG JXQ´ VDLG ¿UVW year Toledo coach Eddie Townsend. “We’re really a FDUERQFRS\RI¿QDOVRSSR- nent) Irrigon, but since the summer I knew there was going to be games where (stalling) was a good tactic. “If we have three-point lead, and you can burn two minutes then that’s like a 10-point or a 12-point lead, so we’ve worked on it in summer and during the sea- son, and it’s something we can go to. Some people weren’t very happy with it, they came to see something more, but Irrigon wins by 60, we win by whatever, we’re in the same game.” Heppner didn’t force To- ledo’s hand, and didn’t start fouling until 4:22 remained on the clock. ³$W ¿UVW , ZDV 2. ZLWK it,” Heppner coach Jere- P\ 5RVHQEDOP VDLG ³)RU WKH ¿UVW FRXSOH PLQXWHV , wanted to let my guys take a break, but we did what we thought was best. We didn’t want to foul any ear- lier, obviously they shot free throws extremely well down the stretch. We didn’t want to extend the game any lon- ger than we did.” Heppner started the fourth quarter 0-for-5 from WKH ¿HOG DQG GLGQ¶W DGG points to their tally until Logan Grieb sank a short jumper at the 1:00 mark. That brought the score to 43-35, and after two made bo- nus shots by Toldeo’s Isaiah Marchant, Jesse Corbin hit a three-pointer with 48 seconds left that made it 45-38. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Irrigon’s Ryan Reynolds goes for a rebound contest- ed by Regis’ Blake Minten in the Knights’ 74-43 win against the Rams on Friday in Pendleton. 49 IRRIGON: Knights take more pride in D 41 at 55 percent (72 of 131) in 2011, and Irrigon enters the tended their lead to 44-23 by ¿QDOJDPHVKRRWLQJSHU- halftime. cent (48 of 86). Reigning 2A Player of the But Rice said it’s the 32.2 Year Adrian Romero scored percent they’re limiting op- nine of his 12 points in the ponents to that really gets the second quarter, but subs A.J. team going. Timpy and Hayden White “We’re not really focused combined for seven points on how many points we in the frame and Austin Rice score. We never really talk nailed a three-pointer at about offense,” he said. “In the buzzer that brought the the locker room it’s defense, crowd to its feet headed into defense, defense.” the break. Blake Minten led Regis Both sophomores, Rice with 12 points, but was limit- didn’t even get into the ed to two after halftime. TXDUWHU¿QDOVZLQDQG:KLWH So far, the Knights didn’t attempt a shot. They have easily been the most combined to go 5-for-5 from ZHOOURXQGHG WHDP LQ WKH ¿- WKH¿HOG)ULGD\DQGHDFK¿Q- nal bracket. And while they ished with seven points. may not be a perfect team, “That was great because Regis coach Tony Miller said it showed we have a lot LWZLOOWDNHQHDUÀDZOHVVSHU- of depth,” Zach Rice said. formance to stop them. “Sometimes we don’t always “They’re just an amazing have to use it, and sometimes team on both sides of the ball I think people mistake that as and you’ve got to come and they’re not able to play.” play nearly a perfect game,” Rice’s comments extend- he said. “In order to (beat ed to junior Nate Verley as them) a team is going to have well, who despite not taking to make a solid commitment a shot put in 17 minutes of to defense. A team’s got to be strong defense to help limit UHDG\WRVWRS¿YHSOD\HUVDQG Regis to 32.6-percent shoot- LIDWHDPFDQ¿JXUHWKDWRXW ing a day after the Rams had good for them but tonight we connected at a 44.4-percent obviously we couldn’t. … clip to edge Oakridge 80-78 They’re just a machine.” in double overtime. Irrigon faces the winner “Those players work real- of No. 3 Heppner and No. 2 ly hard at practice very day,” Toledo in the championship Thompson said. “They’re game at 8:30 p.m. today at ready to go. It’s a long season Pendleton Convention Cen- and you need everybody. ter. Regis faces the loser in the “We wouldn’t put them third-place game at 3:15 p.m. out there with the wolves if ——— IRRIGON 74, REGIS 43 they didn’t have a little bit of RHS (21-7) 10 13 9 11 — 43 wolf in them.” IHS (26-1) 21 23 19 11 — 74 REGIS — Blake Minten 12, W. Keudell After shooting 51.2 per- 8, B. Woodcock 6, B. Piete 4, S. Nieslanik FHQW IURP WKH ¿HOG DJDLQVW 4, G. Brown 3, A. Guzman 2, J. Woodcock A. Schmitt 1, P. Reynolds 1, T. Frith. Burns, Irrigon is on pace to 2, 14-43 FG IRRIGON — Anthony Landeros 15, Z. break the modern-era record Rice 14, A. Romero 12, F. Vera 9, A. Timpy for shooting percentage in 8, A. Rice 7, H. White 7, R. Reynolds 2, N. Verley, O. Romero. 26-43 FG a tour with a similar perfor- 3-point field goals — RHS 5-15, IHS 11- mance in the championship. 21. Free throws — RHS 10-14, IHS 11-15. Fouls — RHS 13, IHS 15. Fouled out — Central Linn set the record none. Technical fouls — none. Continued from 1B Staff photo by Kathy Aney Heppner’s Patrick Collins (15) blocks Kyle Otis (44), of Toledo, during Friday’s semiifinal OSAA 2A Boys State Championships game at the Pendleton Conven- tion Center. But that was as close as Heppner would come, and Marchant and Ammons each converted free throws to ice the win. Toledo was 12 for 14 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, and Marchant ¿QLVKHG ZLWK D JDPHKLJK 22 points while Ammons added a double-double with 13 points, 12 rebounds. “We did get some stops in the fourth quarter but we missed a lot of easy ones (shots),” Rosenbalm said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well from the free-throw line and we missed a lot of easy ones down low that we normally capitalize on. “It was kind of disap- pointing becuase I felt like LWZDVDWRXU¿QJHUWLSVDQGLW could have gone a little dif- ferently. But the kids fought and that’s all I can ask for. We gave it everything we’ve got, just give credit to Tole- do, they made a few more plays down the stretch than we did.” Heppner had pulled within one point in the third quarter thanks in part to an energy infusion from guard C.J. Kindle, who missed PXFKRIWKH¿UVWKDOILQIRXO trouble. “At halftime I told him, ‘Once we get a defensive stop we need to get out and run,’ and we did that and got ourselves right back in it,” Rosenbalm said of Kindle, ZKR ¿QLVKHG ZLWK VHYHQ points, three assists. “Moose is extremely athletic, he’s quick and he does push the ball well, and if we could get out and run I thought it would work well for us.” Kindle got the Mustangs moving and Patrick Collins was often on the other end of his passes as he scored nine of his team-high 11 points in the third quarter. His inside bucket with 2:10 left in the third pulled Heppner within 30-29, and the teams traded buckets the rest of the quarter to head into the fourth at 36-33. Heppner led 12-9 after one quarter, but quick bas- kets by Kyle Otis and Ryan Otis gave the Boomers the lead for good. The win advances Toledo into the state championship for the second time in school history, the last was in 1985 when they were runner-up. There they’ll face de- fending state champion Irri- gon, which beat them 76-73 in double overtime on Jan. 3 — also on a neutral court — and is making its third- VWUDLJKW¿QDOVDSSHDUDQFH “I have nothing but ut- most respect for (Irrigon),” Townsend said. “I think it’s going to be a game people are going to want to come and see.” Heppner will get the chance to go out on a win as well, and faces Regis at 3:15 p.m. in the third-place game. It’s the farthest a Heppner boys basketball team has ever advanced in the state tournament. “I told them they have a great opportunity to go out there and bring that third place trophy to Heppner,” Rosen- balm said. “They’re disap- pointed, but there’s no reason for them to hang their head. They need to be proud, they just fought and battled with a great basketball team, and I told them when they leave the locker room their mind needs to be off that one and on to what we need to do (Satur- day) afternoon against Regis.” ——— TOLEDO 49, HEPPNER 41 HHS (19-6) 12 5 16 8 — 41 THS (24-4) 9 15 12 13 — 49 HEPPNER — Patrick Collins 11, C. Kindle 7, W. Putman 6, R. Cutsforth 6, L. Grieb 5, J. Corbin 3, C. Hedman 3, K. Murray. 17-43 FG TOLEDO — Isaiah Marchant 22, D. Am- mons 13, J. Cross 8, K. Otis 4, R. Otis 2, T. Stam, C. Rodda, K. Rhymer. 15-37 FG 3-point field goals — HHS 5-18, THS 3-9. Free throws — HHS 2-8, THS 16-18. Fouls — HHS 15, THS 7. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none. NIXYAAWII: Melton goes off for Eagles BUCKS: Pendleton hoping to mix business with pleasure Continued from 1B Continued from 1B 7KH *ROGHQ (DJOHV VFRUHG WKH ¿UVW WKUHH times down court, capping a 7-0 start with D )UHG\ &DPSRV SRLQWHU $Q ,UD $VKOH\ old-fashioned three-point play helped push the OHDGWRDQG1L[\DDZLLHQGHGWKH¿UVWSH- riod with a strong lead. The Golden Eagles offense just got better. After holding a 28-15 halftime edge, Nixy- DDZLLPDGHRIVHFRQGKDOI¿HOGJRDOVWR put to bed any thought of a Horizon Christian UDOO\7KHZLQPDUNVWKH¿IWKLQVL[JDPHVDW Baker High School. “It also feels like after playing districts there the team is starting to get more comfortable in that gym which is leading to better shooting as tournament progresses,” Rivera said. Junior Hunter Melton blew up the stat sheet. +H¿QLVKHGZLWKSRLQWVVL[VWHDOV¿YHDV- sists and four rebounds. Elijah Bevis and Ti- \DSR)DUURZFKLSSHGLQZLWKDQGSRLQWV respectively. 7LSIRU6DWXUGD\¶VVWDWH¿QDOEHWZHHQ1L[\- aawii and Country Christian is set for 8:30 p.m. ——— NIXYAAWII 65, HORIZON CHRISTIAN 47 NIX 12 16 16 21 — 65 HC 6 9 13 19 — 47 NIXYAAWII — T. Farrow 11, I. Ashley 9, Hunter Melton 20, F. Campos 8, E. Bevis 12, A. Cronoa 2, D. Kipp 0, H. McKay 3, L. Lewis 0, C. Case 0. HORIZON CHRISTIAN — Jared Davis 14, W. Johnston 1, M. Bloomster 13, R. Aldrich 3, N. Anderson 13, Z. Walker 0, L. Holste 0, R. Hicks 3, J. Bryan 0. 3-point field goals — NIX 5, HC 4. Free throws — NIX 18-31, HC 9-21. Fouls — NIX 20, HC 23. Fouled out — F. Campos 20, M. Bloomster (HC) ical team we’ve played,” Smith said. While the Spartans made Pers- LQJHU¶V OLIH GLI¿FXOW LQ WKH SDLQW Lasswell bombed in three after three in the second half. His pe- rimeter barrage earned Corvallis a six-point lead midway through the third quarter and forced the Bucks to scrap the 2-3 zone and move to man-to-man defense. Corvallis led by two baskets with 5:11 left, but Persiner scored back-to-back buckets, including an and-one putback of a prior PLVVWRJLYH3+6LWV¿UVWOHDGLQ over 12 minutes at 55-54 with 4:08 remaining. /DVVZHOO GUDLQHG KLV ¿QDO WUL- ple the next time down and then Buckaroo defense dug in to close out the visitor’s for the remainder. “We just kept telling ourselves ‘we can’t lose, we’re not going to lose’,” Persinger said. Gaining entrance to the state’s ¿QDOVLWHLVDKHDGRIVFKHGXOHRI where Broaddus thought the pro- JUDPZRXOGEHLQKLV¿UVW\HDU “I didn’t expect it to happen this quick,” he said. “I expected to come in and we’d be about .500. It usually takes two or three years to get going. The kids have really gotten better.” Persinger scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. James Bradt DGGHGSRLQWV4XLQQ¿OOHGWKH stat sheet with eight points, six re- bounds and six assists. /DVVZHOO ¿QLVKHG ZLWK points in the loss for the Spartans. As the nine-seed in the brack- et, the Bucks draw the tough task of ousting top-seed Mountain 9LHZ LQ WKHLU ¿UVW JDPH DW *LOO Coliseum. The Cougars have EHHQWKHFODVVL¿FDWLRQ¶VWRSWHDP for over two months. “I told the kids we’re going to have fun, we’re going to make memories, but it’s a business trip,” Broaddus said. The Bucks and Mountain View will play in Corvallis at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. ——— PENDLETON 63, CORVALLIS 57 COR 11 13 22 11 — 57 PEN 14 14 16 19 — 63 CORVALLIS — JD Lasswell 20, B. Rodgers 3, I. Kulonis 0, N. Humphreys 10, Z. Zalesky 2, Z. Humphreys 8, J. Davis 4, K. Simmons 2, Q. Kile 4, J. Schmidt 7. PENDLETON — S. Green 7, M. Freeman 0, Q. Cockburn 5, K. Quinn 8, T. Hancock 0, W. Persing- er 15, Caden Smith 17, J. Bradt 11, L. Winterton 0. 3-point field goals — COR 7, PEN 3. Free throws — COR 4-8, PEN 18-22. Fouls — COR 19, PEN 12. Fouled out — Q. Kile (COR). Staff photo by E.J. Harris Irrigon’s Fredy Vera drives on Regis’ Brendon Wood- cock in the Knights’ 74-43 win against the Rams on Friday in Pendleton.