SPORTS
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3B
NBA
Lillard highlights big night for Trail Blazers
VWUHDN /LOODUG ¿QLVKHG ZLWK
eight 3s, matching his career
high.
Thunder guard Russell
Westbrook nearly had his
fourth triple-double of the
season, but fell just short
By MALIKA ANDREWS
with 25 points, 15 assists and
Associated Press
nine rebounds. Last season,
PORTLAND — After Westbrook led the NBA with
hitting his third consecutive 11 triple-doubles.
Kevin Durant had 28
3-pointer, Damian Lillard
ÀDSSHG KLV DUPV DERYH KLV points for Oklahoma City
and has scored 20 or
head and motioned
to the crowd while From Sunday more in 23 consecu-
tive games.
screaming, “Come
With
3:19
on man, let’s go!”
remaining, Andre
“I got some good
looks at the rim and Oklahoma City Roberson hit a buzz-
er-beating 3 to put
OHWWKHPÀ\´/LOODUG
Oklahoma City up
said.
103-95. That started
The star guard
a 3-point shootout.
scored 31 points,
Lillard hit three
LQFOXGLQJ
¿YH
Portland
straight 3s and Allen
3-pointers in the last
Crabbe
drained
3:07, and the Port-
another to cut the
land Trail Blazers
Thunder’s lead to
rallied to beat the
Oklahoma City Thunder 108-107 with 2 minutes left.
Lillard wasn’t done.
115-110 on Sunday night.
He hit two more 3s to
Portland coach Terry
Stotts said calling Lillard’s give Portland a three-point
performance “big” would be lead, and an offensive foul
on Oklahoma City with a
an understatement.
“You don’t see that very minute left brought fans to
their feet. But it was Mason
often,” Stotts said.
CJ McCollum added 22 Plumlee’s block for the
points for Portland, which hit Blazers with 30.9 seconds
a season-high 19 3-pointers left, Lillard said, that made
to snap a three-game losing all the difference.
Portland hits 19
three-pointers to
quiet Thunder
110
115
Trail Blazers: Former
Oregon running back LaMi-
chael James was among the
fans in courtside seats. James
is currently a free agent
in the NFL. ... Portland’s
bench outscored Oklahoma
City’s 35-16. ... Portland’s
44 3-point attempts were a
franchise record.
DURANT ON THE
RALLY
“They were coming off
pick-and-rolls,
shooting
fall-away 3s, step-back 3s.
You’ve got to give them
credit. That’s what they do.
They have two guards that
make shots,” Durant said.
ABOUT ALL THOSE 3s
AP Photo/Craig
$OORI/LOODUG¶V¿HOGJRDOV
Mitchelldyer
LQWKH¿QDOTXDUWHUZHUHIURP
3-point range. He was 5 of 8
“Changed the game kept it close in a sloppy running jumper from Durant, from beyond the arc in the
completely,” Lillard said. ¿UVW TXDUWHU 6WHYHQ $GDPV trimmed Portland’s lead to period. ... Lillard’s seventh
3-pointer of the game was
“That was the game-winner slammed down a one-handed two.
The Thunder rallied to the 700th of his career. He
dunk for Oklahoma City, and
right there.”
/LOODUG ¿QLVKHG ZLWK Maurice Harkless answered take the lead, but McCol- and Golden State’s Klay
lum’s 3 at the buzzer to end Thompson are the only
SRLQWV LQ WKH ¿QDO TXDUWHU with a 3.
Portland led 52-46 at the third brought the Blazers active players with 700-plus
Durant went scoreless in the
VLQWKHLU¿UVWIRXUVHDVRQV
halftime. Westbrook had just to 85-80.
fourth.
... Lillard has made eight
TIP-INS
“They played well in two points heading into the
Thunder: Durant has 3-pointers in a game three
the fourth and we didn’t,” break.
Lillard’s eight points in 2 scored 20 or more points times.
Durant said. “All those made
UP NEXT
shots kind of broke our minutes allowed the Blazers against the Trail Blazers in
The Thunder continue
to open up their lead to 65-55 WKH ODVW ¿YH PHHWLQJV
backs.”
The loss ended a four- in the third quarter. Quick It was the second of four their road trip at Minnesota
game winning streak on the points from the Thunder, matchups between the teams on Tuesday.
The Trail Blazers host
including a 3-pointer and a this season. Oklahoma City
road for the Thunder.
Utah on Wednesday.
The Blazers and Thunder free throw by Adams and a won 106-90 on Dec. 16.
Portland
Trail Blaz-
ers guard
Damian
Lillard
gestures
after
making
a three
point
basket
during
the
second
half of an
NBA bas-
ketball
game in
Portland,
Ore.,
Sunday.
CHAMPIONSHIP: Henry scores three touchdowns for Alabama
“I think that changed the
momentum of the game, and
won its three previous RXUJX\V¿QLVKHGLW´6DEDQ
championship game appear- said.
ances in runaway fashion.
Moments later, Alabama
This game was an instant took back the lead. For
classic — a welcome relief the second time, Clemson
for fans who sat through the (14-1) lost track of the tight
blowouts that turned the New end Howard in coverage
Year’s Six lineup into a dud. and Jake Coker hit him in
,W¿QDOO\WXUQHGRQPD\EHWKH stride deep for a 51-yard
boldest call of Saban’s career. touchdown to make it 31-24
“This was a great chal- with 9:45 left.
lenge for us,” Saban said.
Clemson and Watson
With 10:34 left in the proved to be every bit
fourth quarter and Alabama Alabama’s equal. The Tigers
having just tied the game just kept coming.
ZLWK D VKRUW ¿HOG JRDO
Watson led Clemson to a
Saban took a gamble to try ¿HOG JRDO WR PDNH LW
to keep the ball away from and boom! Another Alabama
Watson and the Tigers. He big play. Drake broke free
called for a popup onside and streaked down the side-
kick that Alabama defensive line for a 95-yard kickoff
back Marlon Humphrey return touchdown, diving
caught over the shoulder at the last 5 yards to the pylon.
PLG¿HOG
Watson threw his third
Tide ball.
touchdown pass to make
Continued from 1B
it 38-33 with 4:40 left, and
then Alabama went back
to its workhorse Heisman
Trophy winner. Derrick
Henry plunged into the end
zone for his third touchdown
of the game to make it 45-33
with 1:07 left.
Watson threw another
touchdown pass, but would
not get another chance.
Clemson’s onside kick went
out of bounds. Coker took
a knee and after a two-year
drought that felt like eternity
in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was
back on top.
The
Crimson
Tide
became the second team in
college football’s poll era,
dating back to 1936, to win
four titles in seven seasons.
Alabama joins Notre
Dame, which won four
titles from 1943-49. For
6DEDQLWLVKLV¿IWKQDWLRQDO
championship — four in his
nine seasons at Alabama —
leaving him only one short
of former Tide coach Bear
Bryant for the most titles in
history.
Watson gave the Tide all
it could handle, throwing for
405 yards and four touch-
downs, and conjuring up
memories of Vince Young’s
miraculous
performance
for Texas in the 2006 Rose
Bowl that derailed Southern
California’s dynasty.
The sophomore, who
¿QLVKHGWKLUGLQWKH+HLVPDQ
Trophy voting, had 478
total yards against a loaded
Tide defense that was the
toughest in the country and
bested Young’s 467 yards
against the Trojans. But
:DWVRQ FRXOGQ¶W ¿QLVK WKH
job the way Young did in
Pasadena, California.
Instead, Saban and the
Tide raised another trophy,
LWV ¿UVW LQ WKLV QHZ SOD\RII
system, and got another
confetti shower. It is the
Tide’s 10th national title in
the poll era, more than any
other school.
The Tide hit Clemson
early with Henry, who
VFRUHG WKH JDPH¶V ¿UVW
touchdown on a 50-yard
burst through the middle. He
¿QLVKHG ZLWK \DUGV RQ
36 carries. Howard was the
offensive player of the game
ZLWK ¿YH FDWFKHV IRU
yards, including a 63-yarder
WKDW VHW XS $ODEDPD¶V ¿QDO
score.
After Watson and walk-on
Hunter Renfrow hooked up
for two touchdown passes to
give Clemson a 14-7 lead at
WKH HQG RI WKH ¿UVW TXDUWHU
Henry tied it up with a
1-yard plunge.
Back and forth it went.
Throughout Alabama’s
unprecedented run under
Saban, the Tide was hardly
challenged in a champi-
onship game. Alabama
pulled away from Texas
IRU 6DEDQ¶V ¿UVW 7LGH WLWOH
Alabama blanked LSU for
No. 2 and crushed Notre
Dame to repeat.
Trying to become the
¿UVW )%6 WHDP WR JR
Clemson did not crumble
under the force of Alabama’s
PLJKW%XWDOOWKRVH¿YHVWDU
recruits and future NFL
players that dot the Alabama
roster showed they also have
plenty of resiliency and
toughness. And Saban, the
quintessential CEO coach,
showed he had a little river-
boat gambler in him.
That onside kicked
stunned the stadium and
Clemson, and brought a big
grin to the face of the coun-
try’s most serious coach.
EOU WRESTLING: One coach to lead both teams
Continued from 1B
$300,000 from State Rep.
Greg Smith from the Oregon
Legislature to make it happen,
and the Mountaineer athletic
department will aim for 20 to
25 wrestling student-athletes
by the fall of 2016.
:HLVVHQÀXK VDLG WKH
immediate priorities include
hiring one coach to lead
both programs, assembling
a competitive schedule, and
recruiting.
“We will be competing in
the NAIA and the Women’s
[Collegiate] Wrestling Asso-
ciation as an independent,”
VDLG:HLVVHQÀXK
Although Quinn Coliseum
will be the home for EOU
wrestling meets, the univer-
sity is looking to pinpoint
a designated practice site.
:HLVVHQÀXKHQVXUHGWKDWWKH
department has “multiple”
options for a practice facility
DQGWKDWLWLVLQWKH¿QDOVWDJHV
of narrowing it down.
In addition to the $300,000
startup fund, EOU President
Tom Insko stated that the
university received commit-
ments of up to $200,000
from alumni and the Restore
College Wrestling group in
support of the program.
Insko said adding men’s
and women’s wrestling
would not only help enroll-
ment, but also improve the
energy on campus.
“I’m extremely excited
about the energy that this
program will bring and the
opportunity to reconnect
with alumni that we’ve lost
connection with,” said Insko.
Both Insko and Weis-
VHQÀXK DUH KRSHIXO WKDW
EOU will become a hub for
high schoolers originating
from successful wrestling
programs in the area, such as
Hermiston and Culver, which
have combined for eight state
championships since 2007.
“It opens up that we can
be a part of the conversation,”
VDLG:HLVVHQÀXK³:KHQWKHVH
students are exploring their
opportunities of where they
want to further their education
and their athletic careers, EOU
is now a viable option.”
Insko also commented
that EOU would be the only
women’s wrestling program
in the inland northwest.
While women’s wrestling
is making its inaugural
appearance in La Grande, the
EOU men’s wrestling team is
making a comeback since its
days as a storied program in
the 1960s and 1970s.
The Mountaineer men’s
wrestling team notched
three NAIA individual
championships in 1967,
1969, and 1974. As a team,
EOU mustered four top-10
¿QLVKHVLQDQG
Perhaps the most decorated
wrestler in EOU history, Hall
of Famer Rollin Schimmel
registered an individual title
in 1967 after taking home
runner-up honors in 1964
and 1966. He compiled an
overall record of 94-9-1 as a
Mountaineer.
“We as a university and
as an athletic department
are really looking forward
to the addition of men’s and
women’s wrestling and what
it will bring to our campus, our
community, and our region,”
FRQFOXGHG:HLVVHQÀXK
SEAHAWKS: Lynch will be evaluated on daily basis
much faster than their other
kicks. I don’t need to give you
moving forward on Monday the times but it was consider-
after one of the more memo- ably faster,” Carroll said. “For
rable playoff games in their whatever reason they sped up
their mechanism. (Sherman)
history.
Instead of speaking about couldn’t have been closer. We
all the turmoil of the season, FDQ¶W¿JXUHRXWKRZKHGLGQ¶W
Carroll was getting his players get it. So they went quite a bit
prepared for a trip to Carolina faster.”
Seattle’s unlikely victory
on Sunday in the divisional
was the result largely of its
round of the NFC playoffs.
It seemed so unlikely defense that kept Adrian
when Walsh lined up for his Peterson wrapped up twice
potential winning kick with this season and forced a crit-
26 seconds left, only to see ical fumble by Peterson early
the Minnesota kicker rush his in the fourth quarter.
In two games against
attempt and badly pull it to
the left, leaving the Seahawks Seattle this season, Peterson
in a state of stunned euphoria. had 31 carries for 63 yards.
Richard Sherman had The Vikings managed only
nearly blocked one of Walsh’s 58 yards rushing and became
made attempts earlier in the seventh team in the past
the game and Carroll said eight games Seattle has held
re-watching the game it was under 100 yards rushing.
obvious that Walsh was quicker
“I thought it was a tremen-
in his approach and kick than dous illustration of what it
his previous attempts.
takes to play great run defense
³7KH¿QDONLFNZDVNLFNHG against a really excellent foot-
Continued from 1B
ball player,” Carroll said. “It
was play after play after play
of continuing to do the right
thing. That’s how it goes. It’s
not just how tough you are or
how fast you run, you’ve got
to do things right. The guys
are doing a great job of that.”
Seattle’s victory means
another week of pondering
the status of running back
Marshawn Lynch, who did
not make the trip to Minnesota
after deciding on Friday he was
not going to be able to play.
Carroll said there was
no setback, simply Lynch
telling the Seahawks staff he
GLGQ¶WKDYHWKHFRQ¿GHQFHKH
needed to run with his style in
a playoff game.
Carroll said the plan will
remain the same with Lynch
this week and he’ll be eval-
uated daily. But there is no
projection on whether he’ll
play against the Panthers.
Lynch had 54 yards on 17
carries and a touchdown
when Seattle faced Carolina
in the regular season.
³7KLV LV KLV ¿UVW VXUJHU\
and it happens to be right in
his core and you all know
having watched him, you all
know what kind of runner he
is and the lateral things he
does with his body they’re
so abrupt and so sudden he
needs to feel he can do those
things,” Carroll said.
“Even though he can
run fast and look like he’s
moving, he didn’t have the
FRQ¿GHQFH KH FRXOG JR RXW
there and react to guys and do
that. There’s nothing we can
do about that.”
NOTES: Carroll said he
expected TE Luke Willson
to return this week. Willson
missed the past two games
after suffering a concussion
in Week 16 against St. Louis.
7KHRQO\VLJQL¿FDQWLQMXU\
coming out of Sunday’s game
was a hamstring injury for FB
Will Tukuafu, Carroll said.
Staff photo by Sam Barbee
Hermiston coaches Dave Ego (center) and Den-
nis Stefani greet their players after the Bulldogs
clinched their 56-53 win Saturday over Summit.
BULLDOGS: Summit
trap gives HHS problems
Continued from 1B
cut the lead in half again at
54-51.
Summit began trapping
everything, and Hermiston
was allowing it by dribbling
into the corners just past the
timeline to make the traps
easier for Summit.
“I think part of that is
— and the next game we’ll
probably be better at that
— because they haven’t
played in that situation very
much, this group of kids,”
Ego said. “You have to
learn to play under pressure
and I thought that by and
large we did that most of
the night.”
Then things got inter-
esting.
“If we made our free
throws, it wouldn’t have
been an issue,” Ego said.
Neal again made one of
two, then Andy Jones made
a layup through a foul to
get Summit within two a
55-53. On the free throw,
Neal fouled Jason Garcia,
sending the senior to line
for one-and-one. Just after
the foul, Hurley putback
the missed attempt creating
confusion that took nearly
¿YH PLQXWHV WR ¿JXUH RXW
Garcia misssed his free
throw, Neal was fouled,
again made one of two,
and Jones’ desperation 3 at
the buzzer went begging,
giving Hermiston its best
win of the season.
“The kids are coming
around with attitudes and
coming around with the work
ethic we think they have to
have,” he said. “If we can
transpose that into practice
as well as games, we’ll be a
better team every week.”
Hermiston visits Sunny-
side (WA) on Tuesday for a
7:30 p.m. tip.
———
SHS (8-2) 16 14 11 12 — 53
HHS (8-6) 14 13 14 15 — 56
SUMMIT — J. Hurley 13, N. Mason 13,
K. Cornett 10, C. Collins 4, C. Baker 4, R.
Wells 3, J. Garcia 2, S. Kent 2, A. Jones
2, E. Wasserman, C. Mason.
HERMISTON — A. Naillon 20, D. Neal
17, C. Flores 15, A. James 2, P. Peterson
2, P. Wicks, H. Walls, J. Garcia, C. Ortiz,
B. Palmer.
3-pointers — SHS 4, HHS 5. Free
throws — SHS 10-18, HHS 3-13. Fouls —
SHS 21, HHS 16.