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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2016)
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016 ECHO Sports shorts Gonzaga to star in HBO reality series NEW YORK (AP) — Gonzaga’s men’s basketball team is getting its own ¿ ve-episode reality series. “Gonzaga: The March to Madness” debuts Feb. 16 on HBO, with the ¿ nale set to air on March 15, the ¿ rst day of the NCAA Tournament. The show follows the team starting with the current season in November, includes their West Coast Conference games and gives behind-the-scenes access to the team from Spokane, Washington. The Zags are coming off their best season in school history, having gone 35-3 under coach Mark Few. They are seeking the school’s 18th consecutive NCAA tourney berth this year. Narrated by actor Liev Schreiber, the series is HBO’s ¿ rst sports reality program featuring a college team. The cable network announced the show Tuesday. Timbers complete trade for Valentin PORTLAND (AP) — The MLS Cup champion Portland Timbers acquired defender Zarek Valentin from the Montreal Impact in exchange for an international roster spot. The FACES 24-year-old defender from Pennsylvania played under Timbers coach Caleb Porter at the University of Akron in Valentin 2009-10. Valentin was the second overall pick in the 2011 expansion draft by Montreal. He started in 14 games with the Impact in 2012 before he was loaned to the Norwegian team Bodo Glimt. Valentin, a Generation Adidas product, was the fourth overall pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft by Chivas USA, playing in 24 games his rookie season. “I will send out an apology if he don’t play. But you know and I know that when Saturday gets here, all of that is going out the window, man. “ — Adam Jones Cincinnati Bengals defensive back on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” talking about Pittsburgh Steelers’ WR Antonio Brown, who suffered a concussion in the Steelers win over the Bengals in the Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs. Jones believes that Brown faked the in- jury after sustaining the hit from Bengals LB Von- taze Buri ct, which drew a personal foul penalty which helped set up Pittsburgh’s game-win- ning i eld goal. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1986 — NCAA schools vote overwhelmingly in favor of Proposition 48. The rule requires incoming freshman to maintain 2.0 grade-point averages and score 700 or more on the Scholastic Aptitude Test or a 15 on the American College Testing program. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Grogan leads Tigers over Cougars Stan- fi eld’s Dylan Grogan (in blue) goes up for a shot as the Cougar’s Bob Gibbs (21) defends Tuesday in Echo. Boys BB Junior nets 20 points to lead Stan¿ eld By SAM BARBEE East Oregonian Coming off an 83-65 loss to Heppner on Saturday, Victor Baros was curious at how his Stan¿ eld boys basketball team would respond mentally. Judging by Tuesday’s result, the Tigers responded rather well, dominating the Echo Cougars 69-28 at the Cougar Den. With that loss in mind, Baros tried some new tactics against the Cougars. He opened with a full-court press, something, he said, the Tigers haven’t prac- ticed all season. He then backed his Tigers into a zone defense — something they’ve practiced just once this season — and he Staff photo by Kathy Aney Echo Stanfi eld 28 69 started throwing the ball into the post with Dylan Grogan or Brody Woods posted up, some- thing they couldn’t do against a big front line employed by the Mustangs. All these are preparations setting up for their Jan. 30 rematch date with Heppner. “Every game from here on out is a preparation for Heppner,” Baros said. “We’re gonna do a lot of things and a lot of things different. “Hopefully by the time we see Heppner again we’ll have a little different defense and out shooting will be better.” Dylan Grogan scored 20 points, pulled down six rebounds and grabbed two steals to lead the Tigers (9-2, 1-1). Ryan Bailey chipped in 15 points and ¿ ve rebounds, and Tony Flores had four steals. In fact, steals were decid- edly common for the Tigers. Stan¿ eld made 22 of them and forced 31 Cougar turnovers in total. “We focused on capitalizing on the turnovers and really work hard in hurrying and taking that ball and scoring as quick as possible,” Baros said. Stan¿ eld jumped to a 24-5 lead after the ¿ rst quarter and never looked back. After Carlos Chavez’s 3-pointer pulled Echo within two a 5-3, Stan¿ eld went on a 19-2 run over the ¿ nal four minutes of the quarter to take See STANFIELD/2B MILTON-FREEWATER Pioneers split with GOL up next Mac-Hi girls cruise, boys come up short against Waitsburg By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian The Mac-Hi Pioneers hosted the Waitsburg Cardi- nals on Tuesday Ior their ¿ nal tune-ups beIore the start of league play, with mixed results. The girls look primed and ready to take on the Greater Oregon League after cruising to a 44-28 win despite the absence of one of their most important starters. The boys, despite a valiant effort in the second half, still have some work to do after a 41-34 loss that saw the Cardinals repeatedly exploit their biggest weakness. “They go about 6-(foot)-4, 6-5, 6-6,” Mac-Hi boys coach Jordon Poynor said of Waitsburg’s sizable starting lineup. “It’s tough for a 6-1 and under team to compete with that.” The Pioneers’ strategy was Boys BB simple — shoot over the top and hope for the best. Mac-Hi (6-5) attempted 29 three-pointers in the game, and despite ¿ nishing with Mac-Hi a respectable 34.5 percentage was off target early while Waitsburg built a 19-9 lead by halftime. “We were very stagnant offen- sively and basically settled for Waitsburg outside jumpers,” Poynor said. “We didn’t attempt a ¿ eld goal inside the three-point line. I told them, ‘In the second half let’s get the ball inside, it’ll open up the outside jumpers.” He was right. The Pioneers still only attempted four two-pointers in the game, but the penetrating passes forced Waitsburg’s 2-3 zone to tighten, and gave players like Alex Delgado, Hunter Yensen and Adrian Zaragoza room to shoot the Pios back into contention. Yensen’s three-pointer with 2:27 in the third quarter pulled Mac-Hi within seven points of the lead at 24-17, but the Cardinals scored the last two buckets of the frame to get the lead back to double digits at 28-17. Delgado sank a three-pointer to start the fourth and cut the de¿ cit back to eight, but Waitsburg’s Jacob Dunn scored back-to-back twos to get it back to double digits where it would stay until an 8-0 Mac-Hi run in the ¿ nal minute gave the game its ¿ nal score. The Pioneers ¿ nished 10 for 29 from behind the arc and 12 for 33 total from the ¿ eld. Poynor said See PIONEERS/2B 34 41 Staff photo by E.J. Harris Mac-Hi’s Armando Garcia and Waitsburg’s Jacob Dunn go for a rebound in the Pio- neers’ loss to the Cardinal on Tuesday in Milton-Freewater. Prep Roundup Hermiston comes back for overtime win Juul records double-double in non-league ¿ nale East Oregonian SUNNYSIDE, Wash. — The Hermiston Bulldogs overcame a seven-point de¿ cit with one minute remaining in the fourth quarter to push the game intoto overtime, where they pulled out a 63-62 victory over Sunnyside on Tuesday night. “The difference was we played like we wanted it more,” said Hermiston coach Steve Hoffert. Sophomore Maddy Juul turned in another great game in the post, netting a game-high 23 points and also grabbing 12 rebounds. Once the game got to overtime, Hoffert said that both teams showed plenty of fatigue, highlighted by the 5-4 score in the ¿ ve- minute period. “We were tired, and our legs were gone,” he said. “It was a real hard-fought game, and I’m glad we got the win.” The game marked the last non-league game of the season for Hermiston, as they will next hit the court on Jan. 22 at The Dalles to start Columbia River Conference play. ——— HHS (12-3) 10 17 17 14 5 — 63 SHS (4-2) 10 9 24 15 4 — 62 HERMISTON — M. Juul 23, S. Ramirez 17, J. Edmiston 12, K. Padilla 5, S. Gilbert 3, Team 3, R. Meyers, H. Meyers. SUNNYSIDE — A. Maldonado 22, J. Mendoza 14, E. Maldonado 10, L. Skyles 6, A. Salmeron 4, M. Marro 3, D. Salinas 3, C. Garza, S. Hazzard. 3-pointers — HHS 5, SHS 7. Free throws — HHS 12-19, SHS 7-14. Fouls — HHS 14, SHS 17. LA GRANDE 58, PENDLETON 39 — At La Grande, the Pendleton Buckaroos lost for the second-straight game, falling to La Grande on Tuesday night. “We didn’t come out and play our best ball,” said Pendleton coach Michelle Gomez. “But kudos to La Grande, because they came out on ¿ re and played a great game.” Maureen Davies led Pendleton’s offensive attack and fell just short of a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Kalan McGlothan also added ¿ ve points and eight boards. Pendleton ¿ nishes up non-league action on Thursday when they travel to Baker for a 7 p.m. tip-off. ——— PHS (4-9) 4 8 10 18 — 39 LHS (8-4) 20 4 14 20 — 58 PENDLETON — M. Davies 10, R. Gentner 7, J. Lemberger 6, K. McGlothan 5, H. Greb 4, C. Hoffman 4, L. Richards 2, H. Porter 2. LA GRANDE — K. Collman 13, A. Albrecht 13, K. Avila 11, B. Givens 6, M. Wilcox 6, M. Tussey 4, K. Schelin 3, D. Lester 2, M. Orton 1. 3-pointers — PHS 2, LHS 7. Free throws — PHS 8-12, LHS 8-14. Fouls — PHS 15, LHS 14. Fouled out — J. Lemberger (PHS) IRRIGON 60, HORIZON CHRISTIAN 20 — At Hood River, the Irrigon Knights rode a big performance from sopho- more guard Jada Burns to its ¿ fth win of the season on Tuesday night. Burns turned in a season-high 23 points as well as three assists and ¿ ve steals to lead the Knights (5-8, 1-1 CBC). Taylor Davis fell just short of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds in the game. Irrigon next plays on Friday at Pilot Rock for a 3 p.m. game. See PREPS/2B
