SPORTS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016
1B
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Sports shorts
Prep Basketball
No. 5 Beavers eager
to start season
It’s time to win or go home
CORVALLIS (AP) —
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open the 2016 season this
weekend
with four
games in
Surprise,
Arizona.
With forecasts calling for
temperatures in the 80s,
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noon matchup on Friday
against Ball State.
“Saying we’re very
excited would probably be
an understatement,” junior
catcher Logan Ice said. “Nice
weather, a different team, we
get to go see some other guys
that we haven’t been playing
for the last six months.”
Drew Rasmussen will
get the start for the Beavers
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last year.
CBC district tournament
offers no guarantees
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Nike cuts ties with
Manny Pacquiao
BEAVERTON (AP) —
Manny Pacquiao’s latest
disparaging comments
about gays have cost him a
contract with Nike.
It may not be the only
endorsement
FACES Pacquiao loses,
even as he and
promoter Bob
Arum scramble
to contain the
damage done
by a television
interview in
Pacquiao
the Philippines
in which the boxer said
gay people “are worse than
animals.”
Nike issued a brief
statement Wednesday saying
it was severing its ties with
the boxer over his comments
about gays. The company
said it no longer will have
any business dealings with
the boxer.
Pacquiao, a congressman
who is now running for
Senate in the Philippines,
made the comments to a
television station that was
asking candidates about their
views on same sex marriage.
“It would be like if
your employer just
said, `Hey, don’t
worry about it,
you will get paid.’
That is kind of
where most every
driver is.“
— Brad Keselowski
NASCAR driver on how
the new association’s
new charter system has
has completely over-
hauled how drivers are
paid from their teams
and race purses.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1964 ² :LOW &KDPEHU
lain scores 52 points against
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1981 — Edmonton’s
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goals and adds two assists to
lead the Oilers over the St.
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1995 — Utah guard John
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NBA player with 10,000
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over the Boston Celtics.
2001 — Dale Earnhardt,
the greatest stock car star of
his era, is killed in a crash on
the last turn of the last lap of
the Daytona 500 as he tries
to protect Michael Waltrip’s
victory.
2006 — Shani Davis
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to win an individual gold
medal in Winter Olympic
history, capturing the men’s
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race. Joey Cheek makes it a
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a silver to his victory in the
500 at the Turin Games.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
In this Dec. 30, 2015 i le photo, Heppner’s Patrick Collins goes up for a rebound fl anked by
Enterprise’s Brycen Locke (34) and Brett Greenshields in the Mustangs’ 65-34 win against
the Outlaws in Pendleton.
PENDLETON — There used to be a huge
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in the Columbia Basin Conference.
By earning the No. 1 seed to the district
tournament, a team knew it had already
secured a spot in the championship game
and a state playoff berth.
Not anymore.
That stipulation went out the window
this season, meaning Heppner’s reward
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beat them.
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to open the district tournament at 1 p.m. on
Friday at Pendleton Convention Center.
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could easily do it again according to Heppner
coach Jeremy Rosenbalm.
“Even though they’re a four seed, they’re
athletic, they get after you,” he said. “We’ve
been talking all year long that, and especially
right now too, there’s four really good teams
that are going to the district tournament.”
The winners in Friday’s games will move
on to the championship and a guaranteed
state berth.
After winning a state title in football, the
Mustangs are eager to make a deep run in the
basketball postseason.
“The boys are extremely focused this
week and they know that they’ve got to
come ready to play,” Rosenbalm said. “They
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(last loss), so they’ve got to come to play.
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for more. Right now it all comes down to
Friday night.”
The Mustangs defeated the TigerScots
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beat defending district and state champion
Irrigon for the third time this season.
Their last meeting went to overtime where
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“I’ve been told that it’s hard to beat a team
three times, and so what I told the boys was
See CBC/2B
Golden Eagles ready for anything
Small schools
to settle district
titles this week
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
MISSION — The Nixyaawii
girls basketball team doesn’t
have to look far for a reminder
of how little seeds can mean
when it comes to the district
tournament.
Just last season the Golden
Eagles went into the bracket
with the top seed, only to lose
their two games and fall short of
a state playoff berth.
Nixyaawii holds the No. 1
seed again this season, and will
have a bye when the tournament
begins play today at Baker High
School.
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four in row, which included
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of the teams they may face in
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but anything can happen,”
said Nixyaawii coach Jeremy
Maddern.
Nixyaawii will wait for
the winner of today’s game
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on Feb. 5.
Maddern said it can be a
positive and a negative to take a
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“You could look at it both
ways,” he said. “You’re playing
a team that just played the day
before and got to get all the
nerves out, because no matter
In this
Jan. 15
i le photo,
Nixyaawii’s
Teata
Oatman
(10) and
Griswold’s
Macey Tullis
(20) race
downcourt
during an
Old Oregon
League
game in
Mission.
Staff photo by
Kathy Aney
See SMALL SCHOOLS/2B
Men’s Basketball
Prep Roundup
Beavers, Ducks ready for rematch
Rangers hold off
feisty Cardinals
By JESSE SOWA
Corvallis Gazette-Times
CORVALLIS — Oregon
State is looking for a repeat of
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basketball opener, when the
Beavers controlled the game
against Oregon from nearly
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Coliseum.
On the offensive end, OSU
didn’t have to lean heavily on
senior guard Gary Payton II, as
has been the case several times
this season.
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only time they’ve done it in
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that’s been accomplished just
twice since then.
“It’s real tough for people
to guard us when we get
everybody involved,” Payton
said. “When Drew (Eubanks)
is playing well early. We get
Drew going off to a good
start. You know, Tres (Tinkle),
Stevie (Thompson), guys
coming off the bench. I just try
to get everybody involved, and
I think I did that game early.
Later on I just put the stamp
on it.”
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will try to make it two straight
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time since 2010 when they
travel to Eugene to play the No.
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on Saturday.
Payton was third on the
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with 12 points, behind Tinkle
(19) and Olaf Schaftenaar
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boards or more.
The Beavers did it on
defense as well, as Oregon’s
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OSU’s best result and UO’s
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Dufur beats Ione boys in
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East Oregonian
DUFUR — The Dufur boys basketball
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tage of the extra room and battled back into
the game at the end of the third quarter, only
to see the press reapplied to cut off their
hopes of completing the comeback.
Dufur advanced to the district bracket in
See PREPS/2B