Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2016)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian BMCC’s Savannah Heugly wrestles for the ball with Big Bend’s McKenna Mitchell and Max Shelley looks on in the Tim- berwolves’ 65-51 win against the Vi- kings on Friday in Pendleton. Staff photo by E.J. Harris COLLEGE HOOPS: Continued from 1B WKH ¿UVW TXDUWHU EXW JRW LWV offense going in the second TXDUWHU DQG QHYHU ORRNHG back. The Timberwolves went on a 22-3 run in the WKLUGTXDUWHUWRJHWLWVODUJHVW lead to 21 points at 54-33. Big Bend (7-11, 1-1) made a UXQLQWKHIRXUWKTXDUWHUEXW the Timberwolves were able to hold on for the win. )RXU 7:ROYHV ¿QLVKHG in double digits scoring with Bailey Gregory added 13 points and Kayla Reyna and Brook Haringa each chipping in 10. Gregory also added seven rebounds and three assists. Blue Mountain shot 38.3 percent (23-60) from the ¿HOG IRU WKH JDPH DQG KHOG Big Bend to 27.1 percent (16-59). Max Shelley led Big Bend with 14 points and nine rebounds. Blue Mountain plays again today at home against Spokane at 2 p.m. ——— Jamie Weisner added 16 points, Ruth Hamblin had 15 and both had nine rebounds for the Beavers, who shot 58 percent to improve to 19-1 in their last 20 home conference games. Courtney Range had 17 points and Kristine Anigwe 16 for the Bears (10-6, 1-4), who shot 34 percent, 26.5 in the second half when they were 2 of 11 behind the arc. STANFORD 64, OREGON 62 — At Eugene, Karlie Samuelson scored 18 points and Lili Thompson had 16, including two baskets in the last 35 seconds, to rally No. 11 Stanford to a 64-62 win over Oregon on Friday night. Thompson scored on a drive to tie the game at 62 with 34.3 seconds left, but failed to convert the 3-point play. Then Stanford’s Kailee Johnson blocked Lexi Peters- en’s shot on the other end with 11 seconds remaining. Thompson scored on another drive with 2.4 BBCC (7-11, 1-1) 17 12 4 18 — 51 BMCC (7-9, 1-1) 11 16 25 13 — 65 seconds left and again missed BIG BEND — M. Shelley 14, M. Mitchell 13, M. Windley 11, L. Hansen 5, B. Bowers the ensuing free throw but 4, R. Rockett 2, M. Tipping 2, M. Williams, after a timeout that allowed K. Lott, B. Sorensen, D. Manning. BLUE MOUNTAIN — S. Heugly 15, B. Oregon to move the ball to the Gregory 13, B. Haringa 10, K. Reyna 10, K. frontcourt, the Ducks didn’t Collins 8, E. Ramsey 7, S. McHone 2. 3-pointers — BBCC 7, BMCC 6. Free JHWRIID¿QDOVKRWLQWLPH throws — BBCC 12-18, BMCC 13-20. Fouls — BBCC 18, BMCC 18. Fouled out — M. Kaylee Johnson scored Shelley (BBCC). SRLQWVDQGKDG¿YHRI blocks for the Cardinal (14-3, OREGON STATE 70, 4-1 Pac 12). CALIFORNIA 48 — At Petersen had 17 points Corvallis, Gabriella Hanson and Lexi Bando 15 for the scored 13 of her career-high Ducks (11-5, 0-5), who led SRLQWVLQWKH¿UVWKDOIDQG at the half — 36-32 — for No. 12 Oregon State broke the fourth time in conference the game open in the third play. TXDUWHU )ULGD\ QLJKW UROOLQJ to a win over California. Hansen hit 5-of-6 shots, Men’s Basketball including three 3-pointers, BIG BEND 90, BLUE as the Beavers (13-3, 4-1) MOUNTAIN 85 — At opened a 35-26 halftime Pendleton, the Timberwolves OHDG 268 PLVVHG LWV ¿UVW fell to 0-2 in East Region play WZRVKRWVLQWKHWKLUGTXDUWHU with a loss to the Vikings then hit 7 of 8 while Cal was on Friday. No details were in a 2-for-13 stretch. The available at press time. lead ballooned to 54-30 on a Blue Mountain (9-8, 0-2) will Hanson jumper at 1:25. host Spokane today at 4 p.m. WRESTLING: Riverside goes 2-1 in round robin Continued from 1B 68-9, to claim the No. 1 seed in the bracketed round that begins today. There they’ll face &HQWUDO LQ WKHLU ¿UVW PDWFK and Mountain View and Hillsboro are the other three teams that earned the right WREDWWOHIRU¿UVWSODFHDWWKH prestigious tournament. Pendleton went 1-2 in round robin action and can place no higher than ninth in the bracket round. The Buck- aroos lost to Central, 40-35, and Hillsboro, 45-24, before ¿QLVKLQJ RXW WKH GD\ ZLWK D 37-32 win over Bend. Mac-Hi also went 1-2 in the 4A round robin and is also looking at no better than D QLQWKSODFH ¿QLVK 7KHLU losses were to Scappoose, 42-33, and North Marion, 52-19, and their win came over Douglas, 48-27. In the 3A portion of the tournament, Riverside went DQG ZLOO ORRN WR ¿QLVK VWURQJ IRU D FKDQFH DW ¿IWK place today. A 59-13 loss to La Pine started their day, but they then beat Santiam Chris- WLDQ DQG &RTXLOOH WR ¿QLVK VHFRQG LQ their pool. A handicapped Heppner VTXDGZHQWDWWKH$$ level. Giving up numerous points due to empty weight classes, the Mustangs lost to Vernonia, 34-29, Culver, 66-9, and Myrtle Point, 42-36. 7KHLU EHVW ¿QLVK SRVVLEOH is 13th. Saturday, January 16, 2016 Prep Boys Basketball Mustangs attack TigerScots East Oregonian HEPPNER — The Heppner Mustangs over- came an off night by their shooters to win their eighth game in a row 54-42 over Weston-McEwen on Friday in Columbia Basin Confer- ence action. The Mustangs (13-1, 3-0 CBC) attacked the rim and got to the free throw line for 30 attempts, converting 21 of them. The TigerScots (4-7, 1-2) attempted just six freebies. “We try to make more free throws than the other team attempts, and lately we’ve been able to do that,” said Heppner coach Jeremy Rosenbalm. “When you can do that it means you’re doing a good job of attacking the basket.” Patrick Collins led all scorers with 25 points and added eight rebounds, Logan Grieb added 12 points and Weston Putman chipped in nine points and eight rebounds. Shyler Mikesell had a team-high 13 points and Shaw Broncheau added 11 for Weston-McEwen, which led 32-28 going into the fourth TXDUWHU 7KH 7LJHU6FRWV KRVW Pilot Rock today at 3 p.m. Heppner plays at Culver today at 4 p.m. ——— Columbia Basin Conference host Nyssa at 4:30 p.m. ——— win Friday. VHS (2-11, 0-2) 5 11 12 16 — 44 Dylan Grogan led all RHS (6-8, 2-0) 9 12 9 20 — 50 VALE — C. Towers 14, B. Mattos 11, J. scorers with 26 points for Buckholtz 6, Z. Jacobs 3, G. Bahena 3, R. 6WDQ¿HOG &%& Gomez 3, J. DeLong 2, D. Hiatt 2. RIVERSIDE — N. Madrigal 13, E. Castillo which plays at Irrigon today 11, M. Hegar 6, S. Navarro 6, F. Olvera 6, F. Aparicio 4, J. Carmona 2, R. Rosales 2. at 4 p.m. 3-pointers — VHS 3, RHS 2. Free throws ——— — VHS 9-24, RHS 18-27. Fouls — VHS 23, CHS (5-10, 0-3) 15 7 5 4 — 31 SHS (10-2, 2-1) 26 16 29 18 — 89 CULVER — W. Basl 8, T. Olivares 8, M. Davis 6, T. Bogart 5, D. Gutierrez 4, I. Ste- vens, J. Beeler, M. Krueger, I. Mendoza. STANFIELD — D. Grogan 26, T. Flores 13, A. Nunez 11, J. Garcia 8, B. Woods 8, J. Car- rillo 6, E. Angel 4, T. Monkus 4, N. Sanchez 4, R. Bailey 3, D. Brooks 2, J. Galarza. 3-pointers — CHS 3, SHS 6. Free throws — CHS 2-4, SHS 15-17. Fouls — CHS 17, SHS 12. Technical fouls — R. Bailey (SHS). RHS 21. Fouled out — F. Aparicio (RHS), C. Towers (VHS). NIXYAAWII 82, HELIX 24 — At Helix, the Nixyaawii Golden Eagles remained unbeaten in league play with a blowout win over Helix on Friday night. “We knew Helix is IRRIGON 60, PILOT ROCK 30 — At Pilot Rock, struggling, but the guys the Irrigon Knights put away did a good job of staying the Pilot Rock Rockets in focused,” said Nixyaawii CBC action on Friday night. coach Shane Rivera. Fredy Campos had 18 Fredy Vera led Irrigon with 27 points and Xavier points to lead the Nixyaawii Rambo added 16 points to offense, and Damon Kipp lead the way for the Knights. turned in a double-double Irrigon (11-4, 2-1 CBC) with 13 points and 10 KRVWV 6WDQ¿HOG WRGD\ DW rebounds. Jonathan Shaw 7 p.m., while Pilot Rock had 14 points to lead Helix. “The guys handled the (7-10, 1-1) travels to Weston- pressure about as well as McEwen at 3 p.m. they could,” said Helix ——— IHS (11-4, 2-1) 14 16 20 10 — 60 coach Ben Maney. PRHS (7-10, 1-1) 10 7 5 8 — 30 IRRIGON — F. Vera 27, X. Rambo 16, D. Nixyaawii (14-1, 4-0 Vera 7, A. Rice 5, J. Phillips 3, H. White 2. OOL) next play at home PILOT ROCK — C. Weinke 7, T. Denny 7, I. Winter 5, B. Pierce 5, R. Langford 2, P. against Pine Eagle at 5:30 Roe 2, B. Postma 2. p.m., and Helix (2-12, 0-4) 3-pointers — IHS 5, PRHS 3. Free throws — IHS 9-15, PRHS 5-11. Fouls plays at Joseph at 5:30 p.m. — IHS 18, PRHS 15. Fouled out — H. White (IHS) ——— RIVERSIDE 50, VALE 44 — At Boardman, the Riverside Pirates stayed unbeaten in Eastern Oregon W-M (4-7, 1-2) 5 13 14 10 — 42 HHS (13-1, 3-0) 14 5 9 16 — 54 League play on Friday by WESTON-MCEWEN — S. Mikesell 13, S. Broncheau 11, B. Speed 8, K. Scott defeating the Vale Vikings. 4, J. Patrick 4, E. Reger 2, X. Bailey, K. “It was the best game Rodriguez, A. Finifrock. HEPPNER — P. Collins 25, L. Grieb 12, we’ve played this year W. Putman 9, C. Kindle 5, C. Hedman 3, T. Bredfield, J. Lindsay, K. Clark, K. Murray, defensively,” said Riverside K. Currin. coach Clair Costello. 3-pointers — W-M 6, HHS 3. Free throws — W-M 4-6, HHS 21-30. Fouls — Noe Madrigal led River- W-M 22, HHS 11. Fouled out — X. Bailey side’s scoring with 13 points, (W-M) and hit two key 3-pointers in STANFIELD 89, WKHIRXUWKTXDUWHUWRKHOSWKH CULVER 31 — At Stan- Pirates hang on for the win. ¿HOGWKH%XOOGRJV¶SK\VLFDO Eon Castillo also added 11 play kept in the game for a points, seven rebounds, and few minutes, but the Tigers six steals for the Pirates. Riverside (6-8, 2-0 EOL) steadily pulled away and led 42-22 at halftime of their play again today when they GHS (2-12, 0-4) 9 3 4 8 — 24 NCS (14-1, 4-0) 23 25 18 16 — 82 HELIX — J. Shaw 14, B. Cope 4, J. Williams 2, T. Fehrenbacker 1, T. Wilson 1, C. Marks, G. Newtson, C. Dunn, G. Christman. NIXYAAWII — F. Campos 18, D. Kipp 13, C. Case 10, H. McKay 10, I. Ashley 9, H. Melton 9, A. Corona 6, L. Lewis 2, D. Barley 2, J. Quaempts, T. Bushman. 3-pointers — GHS 0, NHS 8. Free throws — GHS 4-11, NCS 6-12. Fouls — GHS 16, NCS 9. IONE 43, ARLINGTON 40 — At Ione, the Cardinals held off the Arlington Honkers on Friday night to capture just their second win of the season. Austin Carter had a big game for the Cardinals (2-9, 1-2 BSL), netting 21 points and grabbing 15 rebounds, while Anthony Valdez led Arlington (7-7, 1-2) with 11 points. Ione next plays at Dufur today at 5:30 p.m. and Arlington plays at home against Horizon Christian at 5:30 p.m. ——— AHS (7-7, 1-2) 7 18 12 3 — 40 IHS (2-9, 1-2) 12 14 7 10 — 43 ARLINGTON — A. Valdez 11, S. Hauner 9, L. Blinn 8, T. Evans 5, B. Troutman 3, J. Cazeras 3, B. Evans 1. IONE — A. Carter 21, C. Hollis 13, D. McElligot 4, J. Juarez 3, T. Carter 1. 3-pointers — AHS 4, IHS 0. Free throws — AHS 8-25, IHS 15-28. Fouls — AHS 25, IHS 20. POWDER VALLEY 67, ECHO 44 — At North Powder, the Cougars led after one TXDUWHU EXW FRXOGQ¶W KROG RII the Badgers in an Old Oregon League game on Friday. Four players scored in double digits for North Powder (10-3, 4-1 OOL), which was led by Isaac Colton and Gus McGinn with 14 apiece. Bob Gibbs scored 13 points to lead Echo (4-12, 2-3), which looks to snap a six-game losing streak against Wallowa today at 5:30 p.m. ——— EHS (4-12, 2-3) 17 5 11 11 — 44 PV (10-3. 4-1) 16 15 16 20 — 67 ECHO — B. Gibbs 13, C. Chavez 11, M. Thompson 10, Z. Gerkhe 7, D. Craig 2, J. Dorn 1, H. Gerkhe, B. Moffit, C. Medrano, T. Mulder. (18-41) POWDER VALLEY — I. Colton 14, G. McGinn 14, T. Eubanks 13, C. Day 11, S. Dixon 6, H. Davis 6, C. Browne 3, O. Beni- tez, J. Zink, B. Zink, D. Smith. (29-61) 3-pointers — EHS 2-11, PV 2-12. Free throws — EHS 6-11, PV 7-16. Fouls — EHS 17, PV 16. NYSSA 47, UMATILLA 33 — At Umatilla, the Umatilla Vikings remain winless in league play after falling to the Nyssa Bull- dogs on Friday night. No details were reported. Umatilla (7-9, 0-2 EOL) next hosts Vale today at 4:30 p.m. SOUTH WASCO 70, CONDON/WHEELER 52 ²$W)RVVLOWKH&RQGRQ Wheeler Knights fell below .500 in league play with a loss to South Wasco on Friday night. No details were reported. &RQGRQ:KHHOHU 1-2 BSL) next play today at 0LWFKHOO6SUD\ LQ 0LWFKHOO at 5:30 p.m. Girls Prep Basketball Deist lifts Pilot Rock with three at buzzer East Oregonian McEwen at 1 p.m. ——— PILOT ROCK — Kayla Deist hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Pilot Rock girls basketball team to a 55-54 win over Irrigon on Friday in Columbia Basin Conference play. Just seconds prior, Irrigon’s Beatriz Aguilera scored a no-look layup that appeared to hand the 5RFNHWV WKHLU ¿UVW &%& loss of the season with nine seconds to play. Pilot Rock coach Butch Wilson said it was an off performance for his team, ZKLFK FDPH LQ ³ÀDW´ DQG shot poorly all night. “If feel bad for (coach) Mike Royer and the Irrigon girls,” he said. “They played well and deserved to win this game, but I’ll take the win.” 'HLVW¿QLVKHGZLWKSRLQWV for the Rockets (12-5, 3-0 CBC) and Madison Dave scored a team-high 17. Wilson said Dave and junior Bekah Roe, both captains, showed great leadership as the Rockets battled back from a double GLJLWIRXUWKTXDUWHUGH¿FLW ³7KH\ ÀDW RXW WROG PH ‘We’re not losing this game,’” he said. “I didn’t believe them.” The Rockets caught the Knights (5-9, 1-2) with two minutes to play. Jada Burns paced Irrigon with 24 points and Aguilera ¿QLVKHGZLWK ,UULJRQ KRVWV 6WDQ¿HOG today at 5:30 p.m. and Pilot Rock plays at Weston- IHS (5-9, 1-2) 15 12 16 11 — 54 PR (12-5, 3-0) 8 15 15 17 — 55 IRRIGON — J. Burns 24, B. Aguilera 10, A. Zacarias 6, K. McLaughlin 6, T. Davis 4, L. Ramirez 3, L. Mills 1, N. Romero. PILOT ROCK — M. Dave 17, K. Deist 15, B. Roe 10, S. Weinke 6, J. Wilson 5, R. Willingham 2, T. Ostrom, R. Oates. 3-pointers — IHS 6, PR 5. Free throws — IHS 8-15, PR 8-15. Fouls — IHS 14, PR 16. Fouled out — K. McLaughlin (IHS). ARLINGTON 38, IONE 35 — At Ione, down two starters the Cardinals still had a chance to send their Big Sky League game against the Honkers to over- time but a three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark. Megan Hauner scored 17 points to lead Arlington (10-4, 3-0 BSL), which gained sole SRVVHVVLRQRI¿UVWSODFHLQWKH league and hosts Horizona Christian today at 4 p.m. Rachel Holland hit four 3-pointers and led Ione (5-6, 2-1) with 20 points. Ione plays at Dufur today at 4 p.m. ——— AHS (10-4, 3-0) 13 9 7 9 — 38 IHS (5-6, 2-1) 7 6 6 16 — 35 ARLINGTON — M. Hauner 17, R. McClure 8, J. Patnode 7, E. Kirby 3, H. Davidson 2, S. Collins 1, S. Weatherford, S. Grady. IONE — R. Holland 20, I. Sandford 6, M. Orem 6, K. Gilbert 2, K. Bass 1, A. Medina, S. Qualls. 3-pointers — AHS 1, IHS 4. Free throws — AHS 6-22, IHS 5-10. Fouls — AHS 9, IHS 18. Fouled out — M. Orem (IHS). STANFIELD 39, CULVER 29 ²$W6WDQ¿HOG the Tigers had one of their best TXDUWHUVRIWKHVHDVRQFRPLQJ out of halftime in Friday’s Columbia Basin Conference game, using aggressive play to outscore the Bulldogs 17-6 and build a 35-21 lead headed LQWRWKHIRXUWKTXDUWHU Yazzmin Chavez scored a game-high 15 points for 6WDQ¿HOG &%& which plays at Irrigon today at 5:30 p.m. Mia Gamboa led Culver (8-7, 0-3) with 10 points. ——— CHS (8-7, 0-3) 6 9 6 8 — 29 SHS (6-6, 2-1) 11 7 17 4 — 39 CULVER — M. Gamboa 10, R. Slaght 7, H. Lewis 4, I. Retano 3, E. Bautista 2, K. Cloud 2, J. VanAlstyne 1, A. Fritz, M. Haessler, J. Johnson. STANFIELD — Y. Chavez 15, C. Curiel 9, M. Griffin 5, B. Braithwaite 4, M. Banderas 2, S. Connell 2, N. Esquivel 1, C. Hopper 1, A. Lemmon, G. Chavez, A. Carrillo. 3-pointers — CHS 1, SHS 5. Free throws — CHS 8-18, SHS 2-7. Fouls — CHS 11, SHS 15. Fouled out — C. Hopper (SHS). POWDER VALLEY 40, ECHO 39 — At North Powder, the Cougars lost a heartbreaker to fall to 1-4 in Old Oregon League play on Friday. Game details were not provided. Taylor Swaggart led Echo (7-9, 1-4) with 14 points and Megan Hufford paced Powder Valley (7-7, 3-2) with 12. Echo hosts Wallowa today at 4 p.m. ——— EHS (7-9, 1-4) 9 14 3 13 — 39 PV (7-7, 3-2) 9 6 17 8 — 40 ECHO — T. Swaggart 14, K. Ranger 9, H. McCarty 7, E. Parks 6, D. Tarvin 3, L. Cox, S. Stone, L. Wiggins. (16-54) POWDER VALLEY — M. Hufford 12, H. Feik 10, S. Kerns 8, S. Stevens 7, S. Sexton 2, L. Nedrow 1, A. Jimenez, K. Williams, T. Baker. (16-63) 3-pointers — EHS 4-11, PV 1-9. Free throws — EHS 3-7, PV 7-19. Fouls — EHS 13, PV 11. WESTON-MCEWEN 61, HEPPNER 22 — At Heppner, the Weston- McEwen TigerScots rolled to their third conference win of the season on Friday night in a win over Heppner. Chelsea Quaempts led Weston-McEwen (6-6, 3-0 CBC) with 14 points on 6-11 shooting, and Sarah Finifrock added 10 points. Jannae Currin led Heppner (2-12, 0-3) with nine points. Weston-McEwen next hosts Pilot Rock today at 1 p.m. and Heppner travels to Culver today for a 2:30 p.m. tip-off. ——— W-M (6-6, 3-0) 11 22 13 15 — 61 HHS (2-12, 0-3) 2 8 9 3 — 22 WESTON-MCEWEN — C. Quaempts 14, S. Finifrock 10, A. Broncheau 9, B. Hillmick 7, K. Vescio 7, J. Lambert 4, A. Finifrock 3, A. Hill 3, S. von Borstel 2, A. Schroeder 2, M. Muilenburg, M. Aby. HEPPNER — J. Currin 9, J. Kempken 6, M. Correa 3, R. Dompier 2, K. Lindsay 1, R. Kollman 1, J. Mahoney, J. Evans, K. Gray, M. Combe, C. Grieb. 3-pointers — W-M 1, HHS 0. Free throws — W-M 16-26, HHS 6-16. Fouls — W-M 17, HHS 20. UMATILLA 53, NYSSA 39 — At Umatilla, the Vikings breezed to their third straight win on the season with a win over Nyssa on Friday night. No details were reported. Umatilla (12-4, 2-0 EOL) plays again today at home against Vale at 3 p.m. VALE 58, RIVERSIDE 21 — At Boardman, the Riverside Pirates remain winless in league play after falling to the Vale Vikings on Friday evening. No details were reported. Riverside (3-10, 0-2 EOL) next plays today when they host Nyssa at 4 p.m. CONDON/WHEELER 49, SOUTH WASCO 27 ² $W )RVVLO WKH &RQGRQ Wheeler Knights moved to 2-1 in league play after defeating South Wasco on Friday night. No details were reported. &RQGRQ:KHHOHU 2-1 BSL) next plays at 0LWFKHOO6SUD\ WRGD\ LQ Mitchell at 4 p.m. HERMISTON: Bulldogs trying to avoid complacency as conference play nears Continued from 1B and held on during a furious Bulldogs rally to earn a 53-47 win at The Dawghouse. “We were just trying dig ourselves out of a whole that we dug,” senior point guard Austin Naillon said. “That was a game that we should’ve had — home game and they were nothing special.” “They were big, they were long, they were athletic. How they were 3-8, I don’t know,” interim head coach Dave Ego added. La Salle (4-9) boasted 6-foot-7 junior center Mathew Berger, 6-3 forward Jason Burns and 6-2 guard Stew Robertson against Hermiston’s small lineup. The Bulldogs (7-8) again started ¿YHJXDUGVDQGHDUO\RQKDG a tough time containing La Salle’s shooters Robertson and Ange Toku. The pair hit four 3-pointers between them in WKH ¿UVW TXDUWHU SXVKLQJ WKH visiting Falcons to a 21-11 lead. La Salle shot 8-11 in WKH¿UVWTXDUWHUDQGIURP 3-point range. Hermiston used the VHFRQG TXDUWHU WR FOLPE EDFN LQ XVLQJ WKH ¿UVW ¿YH PLQXWHV RI WKH SHULRG to trim La Salle’s lead to 23-21 on Dayshawn Neal’s two-pointer. The 10-2 run was propelled by tough ball- hawking defense that forced ¿YH)DOFRQVWXUQRYHUVWZLFH on consecutive possessions. But the Falcons UHVSRQGHG ¿QLVKLQJ WKH period on a 6-0 run with 3-pointers from Burns and Andrew Lam to put them up 49-41 at halftime. La Salle built its 14-point OHDG LQ WKH WKLUG TXDUWHU mainly on “defensive break- downs” from the Bulldogs, said Ego. Berger, who had EHHQTXLHWDOO¿UVWKDOIEHJDQ to make his presence felt by opening up driving lanes for Toku and others. “We had some breakdowns (on) defense,” Ego said. “They were able to go to the hole on us some when they shouldn’t have been able to.” Hermiston slowly chipped away at the lead in the fourth, which started at 40-30 and slowly dwindled until Austin Naillon’s layup with 1:15 left cut the Falcon lead to 47-45. La Salle coughed it up the ensuing possession and Hermiston blew its best shot to tie when an errant pass ended the fast break. “There’s nothing to like except that we play hard,” Ego said. “When you get behind and they’re still playing hard, I think that’s a credit to the kids. Sometimes when you get used to losing it’s easy to play hard and lose. We don’t want to do that. We’ve got to win some ballgames now.” Hermiston is off until next Friday when it hosts The Dalles in both schools’ Columbia River Conference opener. ———— LSP (4-9) 21 8 11 13 — 53 HHS (7-8) 11 10 9 17 — 47 LA SALLE — A. Toku 13, M. Berger 10, J. Burns 9, A. Lam 6, S. Robertson 6, J. Lyver 5, J. Boyd, M. Niebergall, C. Reyes, T. Bosco, N. Parise. HERMISTON — C. Flores 19, D. Neal 6, A. Naillon 6, C. Ortiz 6, H. Walls 5, A. James 5, P. Wicks, J. Garcia, B. Palmer, P. Peterson. 3-pointers — LSP 7, HHS 6. Free throws — LSP 8-13, HHS 5-9. Fouls — LSP 12, HHS 14.
