SPORTS
Saturday, January 9, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3B
BOARDMAN
NBA
Thompson leads Warriors over Blazers Riverside wrestlers
Golden State
Warriors
guard Klay
Thompson
(11) hits
a 3-point
shot over
Portland
Trail Blazers
guard C.J.
McCollum
during the
second half
of an NBA
basketball
game in
Portland,
Ore., Friday,
Jan. 8, 2016.
The Warriors
won 128-108.
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Klay
Thompson scored 36 points,
making seven 3-pointers, and
the Golden State Warriors
beat the Portland Trail Blazers
128-108 on Friday night for
their ¿fth straight victory.
Reigning league MVP
Stephen Curry added 26
points and nine assists in three
quarters for
the Warriors
(34-2), who
led by as
many as 25 Golden State
points and
made
18
3-pointers.
Draymond
G r e e n
Portland
finished
with
11
points, 13
rebounds
and 10 assists for his eighth
triple-double of the season.
Curry started despite
continued soreness from a
bruised left shin that kept him
out of a pair of games late last
month. He aggravated the
injury again when he crashed
into Roy Hibbert on Tuesday
night and sat out the fourth
quarter of Golden State’s
109-98 victory at the Los
Angeles Lakers.
Damian Lillard had a
season-high 40 points and 10
assists for Portland, which
dropped its third straight.
The Warriors remained
unbeaten since a 114-91
defeat at Dallas on Dec. 30.
Portland was coming off
a 109-98 loss at home to the
Los Angeles Clippers on
Wednesday. The loss was
notable because starter CJ
McCollum was mistakenly
128
AP Photo/Steve
Dykes
ZLQ¿YHGXDOV
East Oregonian
The Riverside wrestlers
overcame some roster
shortcomings to take all
¿ve of their duals on Friday
in their warm-up for today’s
Riverside Rumble tourna-
ment.
The Pirates, which had
several wrestlers moving
up a weight class to ¿ll
vacancies, earned wins over
Grant Union, 45-36, Herm-
iston ‘C’, 48-24, Heppner,
38-24, Elgin, 46-18, and
Imbler, 60-6.
Riverside coach Richard
Rockwell said match
against Grant Union came
108
down a pair of key wins by
170-pounder Jason Navarro
and 220-pounder Anthony
Kernal.
Five Pirates ¿nished 5-0
on the day: Gabriel Romero
(113), Andrew Barker
(120), Sylvestre Vasquez
(132) and A.J. Rockwell
(138).
Going 4-1 for Riverside
were: Christian Reyes
(126), Ulises Calvillo (145)
and Ivan Escobedo (152).
Navarro and Zach
Ferguson (182) went 3-2
while Kernal ¿nished 2-2
in what Coach Rockwell
said was easily the toughest
weight class of the day.
Irrigon’s
Fredy
Vera
lays the
ball in
guarded
by Hep-
pner’s
Weston
Putman
in the
Mus-
tangs’
44-42
win
against
the
Knights
on Friday
in Irri-
gon.
left off the active roster turned
in before the game and was
forced to sit out.
The Warriors jumped
out to a 12-2 lead at the
start while Portland missed
its ¿rst nine shots from the
¿eld. There was a brief tense
moment when Curry collided
with Noah Vonleh and came
up gingerly.
Green’s fast-break dunk
put the Warriors up 24-9
and Thompson had ¿ve
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris
3-pointers and 19 points
in the opening quarter as
Golden State led 38-21.
It was Thompson’s third
straight game with 30 or more
points. Rush had a season-
high 20 points.
MUSTANGS: Knights
Lynch ruled out, doesn’t travel to Minnesota pull trigger too soon on
Seahawks are likely to rely
attempt to get ¿nal shot
on the combo of Christine
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
RENTON, Wash. —
Seattle Seahawks running
back Marshawn Lynch has
been ruled out of the NFC
wild-card game against
Minnesota.
The Seahawks released a
statement late Friday saying
Lynch did not make the trip
for the Sunday game.
The statement from the
team capped a day where
Lynch’s status changed three
times. Coach Pete Carroll
indicated on KIRO-FM on
Friday morning that Lynch
would play, then after prac-
tice in the afternoon said that
Lynch was questionable and
the team needed to evaluate
him again before deciding
if he would play against the
Vikings.
“I have not said yet that
he’s playing. I know that’s
been out there. We don’t
know for sure until we ¿nish
the week. He’s looked really
good,” Carroll said after the
¿nal practice of the week and
before the team departed for
Minnesota.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch
holds a candy cane in his mouth as he warms up be-
fore NFL football practice, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in
Renton, Wash. Lynch has been recovering since having
abdominal surgery last November.
Lynch was listed as a full
participant in practice all
three days this week after
not playing since Week 10
against Arizona. Lynch had
abdominal surgery Nov. 25
and rejoined the team this
week after spending most of
his recovery in the Bay Area
working out with personal
trainers.
“We’ve got to go to
tomorrow and make sure he’s
OK after today,” Carroll said.
“We’ll do that same old thing
and see how he’s taken to the
week’s work and all of that. He
looked good during the week
and did some really good stuff.
We’ll just use all of the time
that we have available.”
With Lynch out the
Michael and Bryce Brown,
who shared the rushing load
the ¿nal three weeks of the
regular season. Michael is
coming off a career-high
102 yards rushing in the
regular season ¿nale against
Arizona.
Lynch is the second player
Seattle has ruled out after previ-
ously announcing it would be
without tight end Luke Willson
after he had a setback in his
recovery from a concussion
suffered in the Week 16 loss
to St. Louis. Willson was a
limited participant in practice
Wednesday before sitting out
the past two days.
“He just didn’t quite get
through it,” Carroll said. “He
did some of the work and
practiced with us and just
didn’t quite recover. We’re
going to take care of him.”
Everyone else for Seattle
was listed as probable
including starting strong
safety Kam Chancellor,
guard J.R. Sweezy and left
tackle Russell Okung after
all three missed the regu-
lar-season ¿nale.
SEAHAWKS: Cold air pumped in during practice
Continued from 3B
that it’s going to be a cold
game.”
The Seahawks have never
played in temperatures lower
than 16 degrees when they
visited Denver in 2006. But
with temperatures forecast to
be around zero in Minneap-
olis on Sunday, the Seahawks
are preparing for a cold most
of them have never experi-
enced with no easy way to
replicate it other than standing
in a storage freezer for an
extended period of time.
Seattle opened all the
doors to its indoor practice
facility and pumped in cold
air during the week, but even
that was mild compared
to what they’ll face this
weekend.
And this is not a group
that has extensive experience
playing in frigid conditions.
Under Pete Carroll, the
Seahawks have played only
two games in temperatures
under 25 degrees. Linebacker
Bobby Wagner remembered
one game in college at Utah
State that was so cold and
snowy, players wore plastic
bags over their feet to keep
the moisture from soaking
through their cleats and
getting their socks wet.
Russell Wilson played
his ¿nal year of college ball
at Wisconsin and had a few
chilly practices inside Camp
Randall Stadium.
“Once it gets below 20 it’s
all about the same,” Wilson
said.
Even with the freezing
conditions don’t expect to
see players deviating from
what they’ve done in the
past. Sleeves? Forget about
it if you are one that has
traditionally not worn them.
When asked why he
wouldn’t add arm coverings,
linebacker Bruce Irvin joked,
“I can’t look like no punk,
man.”
And that seemed to be
the sentiment throughout
the Seattle locker room.
Fred Jackson, who spent
nine seasons in Buffalo,
planned to forgo the sleeves.
Rookie wide receiver Kasen
Williams played the ¿nal
regular season college game
of his career in 19-degree
conditions in kickoff, but
still planned to only go with
three-quarters sleeves in
Minnesota.
Some of the reasoning
seems to be psychology
of trying to keep the chill
from getting in their heads.
Some of it — especially for
ball carriers — is tactical in
wanting to feel the ball against
their skin rather than having a
layer of material in the way.
Of course, that’s assuming
they’re able to feel their skin
in the ¿rst place.
“There’s nothing you can
do to change what minus 2 or
zero feels like. You just got to
go out there and play in it,”
Jackson said.
Richard Sherman down-
played the cold because of
the advances in technology
including massive heaters
and heated benches on
each sideline. But the idea
of trying to tackle Adrian
Peterson or Marshawn Lynch
in such conditions is not an
enviable thought for anyone
playing defense.
Yet it’s the offensive side
where most impacts of the
cold are likely to be notice-
able especially in the passing
game and trying to catch a
ball that’s going to feel like
a brick.
“We’ll see what happens.
Unfortunately, that’s some-
thing that we can’t control,
but we’ve always dealt well
with the things we can’t
control,” Baldwin said.
Continued from 1B
the way that they played
tonight,” said Heppner
coach Jeremy Rosenbalm.
“Total team win, and the
scoring was pretty balanced
and when we can do that
we’ll be tough.”
Irrigon (8-4, 0-1 CBC)
had its opportunity to earn
the victory at the end of the
game, stalling the game
from the 1:18 mark in the
fourth quarter all the way
to less than 10 seconds
remaining to try for the last
shot, one which Fredy Vera
missed from the right Àat
with eight seconds left.
Collins then reached for
and grabbed the rebound
and was fouled on the play,
setting up the game-win-
ning free throw attempts.
Heppner coach Jeremy
Rosenbalm said the only
thing that surprised him
about that series was the
amount of time left on the
clock.
“I
am
(surprised)
because usually when it’s
tied you don’t want to give
the other team an opportu-
nity and they did that and
luckily we took advantage,”
he said. “With their athletes
and quick guards I thought
they’d take (the clock)
down a little bit further but
it worked out for us.”
Heppner (11-1, 1-0)
appeared to have the advan-
tage through the ¿rst half,
limiting Irrigon on defense
and attacking the basket
on offense on its way to a
30-21 lead at halftime. That
style also led to a 9-2 foul
differential in favor of the
Mustangs in the half.
However, the Knights
came out in the second half
with some extra energy and
determination and quickly
started to whittle away
Heppner’s lead. Irrigon
coach Mitch Thompson
said he told his team at half-
time that they just needed
to trust the process and
themselves, and it showed
on the defensive end of the
Àoor.
“I thought we did a much
better job in second half of
sitting down and guarding,”
Thompson said.
Irrigon’s guard duo of
Vera and Xavier Rambo
began to cause issues for
Heppner, as they were
slashing to the basket
through Heppner’s zone
and dishing the ball out to
open Knights with relative
ease. Vera ¿nished with a
team-high 13 points.
Irrigon started making
its run with 2:30 left in the
third quarter, when Austin
Rice nailed a 3-pointer
followed by a ¿nger-roll
lay-in by Rambo to cut the
Mustangs’ lead to 35-33.
Rambo then ¿nished
the quarter off by sinking
a short shot at the buzzer to
tie the game at 35-35 — the
¿rst tie of the game since
it was 6-6 early in the ¿rst
quarter, getting the Irrigon
fans on their feet.
The fourth quarter
began with some back-
and-forth play, with Irrigon
answering each Heppner
basket. That is until Hayden
White backed down his
defender and banked in
a short jumper to put the
Knights on top for the ¿rst
time since holding a 6-4
lead in the ¿rst quarter.
But it was short-lived
as C.J. Kindle came right
down the Àoor and scored
on a short shot to tie the
game back up at 42-42,
which set up the ¿nal series.
Kindle was forced to sit
out for most of the second
half with foul trouble,
which was a big hole for
Heppner to try and ¿ll on
the Àoor.
“C.J. has been a four-
year starter at point guard,
so when he goes out it takes
a dimension of our offense
away,” said Rosenbalm.
Irrigon ¿nished the
game leading the foul total
16-5 over Heppner, which
affected Irrigon’s tempo
and rhythm on offense.
After the game, Thompson
was clearly not pleased
with that fact.
“I think a lot of things
dictated the pace of play
tonight, and that’s what I’m
going to say about it,” he
said.
Heppner hits the court
again today to host Stan-
¿eld at 5:30 p.m., while
Irrigon will look to rebound
today at Weston-McEwen
at 5:30 p.m.
———
HHS (11-1) 21 9
5
9 — 44
IHS (8-4)
14 7 14
7 — 42
HEPPNER — P. Collins 12, W. Putman
10, L. Grieb 8, C.J. Kindle 8, C. Hedman
4, K. Murray 2, J. Lindsay, K. Clark.
IRRIGON — F. Vera 13, A. Rice 8, H.
White 8, X. Rambo 6, D. Vera 5, O. Vera
2, A. Roa, L. Covarrubia, J. Phillips.
3-pointers — HHS 2, IHS 4. Free
throws — HHS 10-12, IHS 0-0. Fouls —
HHS 5, IHS 16.
———
Contact Eric Singer at
esinger@eastoregonian.
com, (541) 966-0839, or
follow on Twitter @ByEr-
icSinger.