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