WEEKEND, MARCH 28-29, 2015
SPORTS
Sports shorts
PENDLETON
O’Rourke’s season likely over
Rockets shut out
Ams in playoffs
KELOWNA, B.C.— The
Tri-City Americans kept
it close early in the game
against the
Kelowna
Rockets,
but the
game
opened up
in the second period as the
Rockets earned a 6-0 win in
*DPHRIWKH¿UVWURXQGRI
their WHL playoff series on
Friday.
Tri-City started out the
second period with some
solid chances, but couldn’t
get anything past the red line
and ended the period down
4-0.
Tri-City was scoreless
ZLWK¿YHSRZHUSOD\FKDQFHV
and spent 10 minutes in the
penalty box.
Game 2 is today in
Kelowna.
Kevin Durant to
miss rest of season
1B
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS
likely more.
“It’s a pretty devastating blow,” Pendle-
ton coach Greg Whitten said. “He was such a
leader for the team. But, he’s lucky, because it
East Oregonian
could’ve been much worse.”
Whitten said O’Rourke will seek further
BOISE, Idaho — Pendleton senior base- opinion from specialists.
ball player Alex O’Rourke suffered potential-
“There’s always a ray of hope (for a re-
ly season-ending injuries at a tournament in turn this season), but I don’t think it’s looking
Idaho on Thursday.
good for him,” Whitten said.
The Oregon State signee and All-State se-
O’Rourke has started at catcher for the
OHFWLRQWRRNDZLOGSLWFKWRWKHIDFHLQWKH¿IWK Buckaroos since his freshman year, drawing
inning of Pendleton’s 12-1 loss to Vallivue numerous all-league and all-state honors. In
(ID) at the Bucks Bags Classic in Boise, Ida- November, he signed to play baseball with
ho. The shot left O’Rourke with multiple bro- the Beavers, joining a celebrated 15-player
ken bones, including nose, cheek, eye socket class. He’d been committed to OSU since his
sophomore year.
and orbital bone.
O’Rourke was 4-for-17 with two runs
Boise-area doctors indicated that a recov-
ery will take a minimum of six weeks and
See O’ROURKE/2B
Buckaroo star breaks multiple
bones in face at tournament
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton catcher Alex O’Rourke talks to pitcher
Caden Smith during a recent game in Pendleton.
O’Rourke broke multiple bones in his face after
being hit by a pitch during a game Thursday in
Boise, Idaho.
NCAA Tournament
Zags join the Elite
Gonzaga
players cele-
brate after the
second half of
a college bas-
ketball region-
al semifi nal
game in the
NCAA Tourna-
ment against
UCLA, Friday
in Houston.
Gonzaga won
74-62.
OKLAHOMA CITY
(AP) — NBA MVP Kevin
Durant will miss the rest of
the season and have bone
graft surgery next week to
treat a fractured bone in his
right foot.
The Oklahoma City
Thunder had said last week
he likely would
shut down
FACES be
for the season.
The team was
WU\LQJWR¿JXUH
out why his
pain remained
long after he
was supposed
Durant
to be able to
play.
General manager Sam
Presti said Friday the team
expects Durant to return to
basketball activities within
the four to six months.
The Thunder are in
position to make the playoffs
without Durant, but they
clearly will miss one of the
game’s most dynamic play-
ers. Durant last played Feb.
19 before the discomfort
became too much to bear. He
has played in just 27 games,
averaging 25.4 points, 6.6
rebounds and 4.1 assists.
“I actually wish
they made it a
law that whoever
drafts you, you
gotta stay there
your whole
career.“
— Shaquille O’Neal
Retired NBA players af-
ter saying he sometimes
regrets his decision to
leave the Orlando Magic
for more money with the
Los Angeles Lakers after
his fi rst four seasons.
O’Neal was inducted to
the Magic Hall of Fame
on Friday.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1939 — The barnstorm-
ing Renaissance Five beat the
NBL champion Oshkosh All-
6WDUVWRZLQWKH¿UVW
annual World Professional
Basketball Tournament in
Chicago. Sports reporters of
the day make no mention of
the fact that all the Rens are
black and the All-Stars are all
white.
1992 — Christian La-
ettner hits a 15-foot turn-
around jumper at the buzzer
to give defending champion
Duke a 104-103 overtime
victory over Kentucky and
D¿IWKFRQVHFXWLYHWULSWRWKH
Final Four.
1995 — Michael Jordan,
SOD\LQJ LQ KLV ¿IWK JDPH LQ
22 months, scores 55 points
to lead the Chicago Bulls to
a 113-111 victory over the
New York Knicks.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
AP Photo/David J.
Phillip
Gonzaga headed to Elite Eight for first time under coach Mark Few
winner of the Utah-
Duke game on Sun-
day.
#2 Gonzaga
HOUSTON — Growing up in
UCLA
(22-14)
Poland, Przemek Karnowski had to opened the second
stay up until 2 or 3 a.m. to watch the half with a 6-0 run
NCAA Tournament.
to get within 35-34.
Gonzaga’s big man got to star in Gonzaga got going after that, scor-
the show in prime time on Friday ing the next 12 points, thanks to the
night, scoring 18 points with nine powerful inside game of the 7-foot-
rebounds to lead the second-seeded 1, 288-pound Karnowski to make it
Bulldogs to a 74-62 win over No. 11 47-34.
seed UCLA in the Houston Region-
“For me it was always a dream
DOVHPL¿QDOV
to be here and to play deep into the
The victory puts Gonzaga (35- NCAA Tournament,” Karnowski
2) in the Elite Eight for the second said. “And right now I’m here and
WLPH LWV ¿UVW UHJLRQDO ¿QDO VLQFH I’m trying to enjoy every second of
1999. The Bulldogs will play the it.”
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
Associated Press
74
#11 UCLA
62
Karnowski helped
the Bulldogs grab six
more offensive re-
bounds than UCLA,
which Bruins coach
Steve Alford believes
was the key to the
game.
“We didn’t rebound the basket-
ball,” Alford said. “They got too
many second shots.”
Gonzaga’s Kyle Wiltjer raved
about Karnowski’s work.
“He was a beast down there,
just gobbling up offensive boards,”
Wiltjer said. “It’s so easy for us, es-
pecially when we’re on the perime-
ter, to just throw it down to him and
HERMISTON
Dawgs deal with glaring issue
East Oregonian
Rain, and even wind, is an ac-
ceptable reason for delaying baseball
games in Eastern Oregon.
Sun glare, said Hermiston baseball
coach Lance Hawkins, is not.
For the second time this week the
Bulldogs had to stop in the middle of
a game and wait for the sun to stop re-
ÀHFWLQJRIIWKHFRQFHVVLRQVWDQGURRI
DQG EOLQGLQJ ¿HOGHUV DW$UPDQG /DU
ive Middle School.
“This is our fourth year (playing
games) at Armand and it’s never hap-
pened before,” said Hawkins, who
was an assistant with the program
before taking over as head coach this
See GLARE/2B
he gets a bucket.”
The Bruins, who lost in the Sweet
16 for the second straight year, were
done in by a tough shooting night
that included long stretches without
scoring. They were led by Norman
Powell’s 16 points.
They quieted doubters who
questioned whether they should be
in the tournament by winning their
¿UVW WZR JDPHV EXW FRXOGQ¶W VWD\
with the Bulldogs on a night when
their shots weren’t falling. Powell
made just 8 of 19 shots and Bryce
Alford was 3 of 11.
It’s Gonzaga’s second win over
UCLA this season after also beat-
See GONZAGA/3B
Pitching leads
way in sweep
East Oregonian
The Hermiston Bulldogs entered the sea-
son with a big question
mark on the mound, but
the team’s pitchers contin-
ued to lead the way as the
Hermiston
Bulldogs swept Century
9-2 and 8-2 on Friday in a
non-league twin bill.
Tyler Sexton “bull-
dogged through” four in-
Century
nings when his best stuff
wasn’t working, said coach
Lance Hawkins, and Chase
See BULLDOGS/2B
9-8
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sunlight refl ects off of the roof of the building
housing the concession stand at the baseball
fi eld Friday at Armand Larive Middle School in
Hermiston. The glare has caused two game de-
lays so far this season.
2-2