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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 2015)
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015 Sports shorts Pendleton boys kick off 5A state tourney The Pendleton boys basketball team kicks off state tournament play Tuesday in Corvallis at 1:30 p.m. against top seed Mountain View. The Cougars (20-5) were nearly upset in their qualifying win, squeeking by No. 16 Parkrose 63-61 to PDNHWKHTXDUWHU¿QDOV The No. 8 Buckaroos (18-7) dispatched No. 9 Corvallis last week, earning WKH%XFNVDTXDUWHU¿QDOELUWK for just the fourth time in 45 years. The winner of the game will play March 12 at 1:30 p.m. against the winner of No. 4 Silverton and No. 12 Churchill. The loser plays at 9 a.m. Wednesday. All games are at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis. Listen to a livestream of the game at osaa.org and visit easoregonian.com for coverage from the scene. SPORTS 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Twice knighted Ducks are named both player, coach of year in Pac-12 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Oregon’s Joseph Young has been named the Pac-12 player of the and Ducks FACES year coach Dana Altman has been named coach of the year. Arizona’s Stanley Johnson was the freshman Young of the year, Oregon State’s Gary Payton II the defensive player and Washington State’s Josh Hawkinson was the most improved player. Altman Arizona, which won the Pac-12 regular-season title, was the only team with more than one player on the Pac- ¿UVWWHDPZLWK-RKQVRQ point guard T.J. McConnell and forward Rondae Hollis- Jefferson earning honors. Young and Payton also ZHUHQDPHGWRWKH¿UVWWHDP with Washington State’s DaVonte Lacy, UCLA’s Norman Powell, Stanford’s Chasson Randle, California’s Tyrone Wallace and Utah’s Delon Wright. “I’m pretty happy they are going to pull it off. There’s been a lot of races that have been canceled.” — Aliy Zirkle Musher in the Iditarod, which started Sunday on a new course that allows the race to go on despite warm temperatures and lack of snow. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1913 — The Quebec Bull- dogs win the Stanley Cup in two games over Sydney. 2002 — John Stockton, the NBA’s career assist lead- er, has 13 assists in Utah’s 95-92 loss at Houston to give him exactly 15,000 for his career. 2012 — Portland’s Ash- ton Eaton sets a heptathlon world record and wins the gold at the world indoor championships in Istanbul. The American dominates the two-day competition, capping it with an over- whelming 1,000 meters. He breaks the record he set in 2011 by 77 points with a total of 6,645. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com Staff photo by E.J. Harris The Irrigon boys basketball team celebrate their 65-53 state championship win in the 2A title game against Toledo on Saturday in Pendleton. Irrigon dispatches Toledo to win second-straight state 2A title back into double digits. But even that wasn’t enough for senior Adrian Romero, who wasn’t With 36.6 seconds left in Satur- able to relax until Vera sent the standing-room only crowd day’s 2A boys basketball FKDPSLRQVKLSVPLOHV¿QDOO\ Boys hoops into a tizzy with the last of his game-high 23 points to started to appear on the faces punctuate a 65-53 win and of Irrigon players. Irrigon’s second straight After holding off the best Irrigon state title. Toledo had to offer in a phys- “I actually didn’t feel ical second half, the Knights comfortable until there was ZHUH ¿QDOO\ IHHOLQJ D VHQVH like seven seconds left, when of security with a nine-point the crowd started going cra- lead and senior Anthony zy. That’s when I felt most Landeros headed to the free Toledo comfortable because I watch throw line to shoot two. basketball and anything can As teammates Fredy Vera happen,” said Romero, who and A.J. Timpy enjoyed one scored 10 points to go with of the game’s few light mo- ments near midcourt, Landeros sank six rebounds and six assists. Going off the game’s last eight KLV ¿UVW VKRW WR SXVK ,UULJRQ¶V OHDG By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian 65 53 minutes, Romero’s hesitance was certainly understandable. He’d just watched Toledo cut an SRLQWOHDGLQKDOILQWKH¿UVWIRXU minutes of the fourth quarter, then trim the margin to seven when David Ammons continued his second-half scoring spree with 1:42 to play. Am- mons scored 17 of his team-high 23 points in the second half as Toledo refused to go the way of Irrigon’s pri- or two tournament opponents, which lost by a combined 57 points. “Coach told us at the half that they were going to make runs and we just needed to be patient,” said Vera, who VKRWRIIURPWKH¿HOGDQGDGG HG¿YHUHERXQGVDQGWKUHHVWHDOVDV Irrigon’s Moda Health Player of the Game. “Sticking together, that was our plan all year and we did that.” Boys prep basketball It wouldn’t take long for the Knights’ patience to be tested when both teams went on a three-minute scoreless stretch during the third quarter, during which the game’s physical nature and the crowd’s fer- vor reached their peaks. “They gave us a run the last time and we knew we were going to have D GRJ¿JKW DQG ZH MXVW EURXJKW LW´ said Landeros, referencing Irrigon’s 76-73 double-overtime win over To- ledo in the preseason. “I thought (the refs) were really going to let us play and we just came in prepared for it, and we just worked hard.” ,IRQHSOD\HUFRXOGKDYHEHQH¿WHG from a tightly called contest, it was Landeros. See IRRIGON/2B Girls prep basketball Nixyaawii loses in title tilt Bucks the game’s majority. Ira Ashley completed an old-fashioned three-point BAKER CITY — play to give the Golden Nixyaawii arrived in (DJOHV DQ OHDG ¿UVW Baker City as dark hors- quarter edge. The advan- es. The Golden Eagles tage would hold for the rode the underdog role to next 18 plus minutes of TXDUWHU¿QDO DQG VHPL¿ game time. During that nal demolitions of better span the upstarts would seeded Hosanna Chris- push the lead to as much tian and Horizon Chris- as ten. They weathered sev- tian and into Saturday’s VWDWH¿QDODJDLQVW\HWDQ eral Cougar spurts and held a 42-40 edge with other favorite. eight minutes 7KH ¿QDO XS set bid lost its Boys hoops separating them from a state title. legs down the The horsepower ¿QDO VWUHWFK wasn’t there for however, sput- Country the underdogs in tering out versus Christian WKH ¿QDO SHULRG second-ranked Country Chris- Country Chris- tian used a 12-1 tian in the fourth run in the fourth quarter to fall to grab a stran- 61-53 in the state glehold at 56-47 championship Nixyaawii with 1:24 to play game. in regulation. “I felt like The Cougars out- we were under- dogs coming into this scored Nixyaawii 21-11 tournament, by what in the fourth period. “It just slipped away people said, you could tell,” Golden Eagle guard faster than you can even Hunter Melton said. “I realize it,” said Melton, think we upset more peo- ZKR ¿QLVKHG ZLWK ple than we were sup- points. “We were really close, posed to.” 7KH ¿IWKVHHGHG really close,” Nixyaawii Golden Eagles were eight coach Shane Rivera minutes from making it said. “I think their phys- a third and snagging the icality — they’re mostly VFKRRO¶V ¿UVW VWDWH ER\V seniors, we’re mostly ju- basketball title. Instead niors. That played a part they’ll settle for second in it.” No Golden Eagle was SODFH²WKHEHVW¿QLVKLQ eye level with the Cou- program history. Nixyaawii led for gars starting front court back to state tourney By ERIK SKOPIL East Oregonian East Oregonian Grandle with 13 and six rebounds. “They’re the biggest team (we’ve faced) by far,” Rivera said. “They have height, we have speed.” The speed and pe- rimeter shooting was the biggest reason the Eagles BEND — The Pendleton Buckaroos advanced to the girls EDVNHWEDOO¿QDOVLWHIRUWKH¿UVW time since 2006 with a 62-43 win over Summit on Saturday. Led by its senior class, the Bucks opened an Girls hoops early lead and extend- ed it in every quarter of Pendleton play to earn another shot at Columbia River Con- ference and Summit cross-county rival Herm- iston in the state quarter- ¿QDOV Pendleton’s Kiana Sperl posted a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and frontcourt running mate Kristin Williams added a team-high 18 points to go with her eight re- bounds and three blocks. “The seniors really came out and showed a lot of leadership,” said Pendleton coach Michelle Gomez, who coached Pilot Rock’s girls to the 2A third-place See EAGLES/2B See BUCKS/2B 61 62 53 Wil Phinney/CUJ Nixyaawii’s Elijah Bevis goes up for a shot in the state title game against Country Christian. The Golden Eagles lefd in the fourth quarter, but Country Christian won 61-53. of Luke Carter and Ben Grandle. The pair stands 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-5 re- spectively. They duo was NHSWLQFKHFNIRUWKH¿UVW 16 minutes, but exploded in the second half. Carter and Grandle combined for 24 second-half points and 12 rebounds. &DUWHU¿QLVKHGZLWK points and 12 rebounds, 43
