Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 2016)
SPORTS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016 Ana Zacarias (2), of Irrigon, grabs onto a fastbreak pass from a teammate and races Weston-McE- wen’s Ali Schroeder (12) to the basket during Saturday’s Columbia Basin Confer- ence Basket- ball Tourna- ment at the Pendleton Convention Center. PENDLETON Knights outlast TigerScots Irrigon wins district championship in overtime By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian In the week leading up to the ¿rst district tournament game in program history, the Irrigon Knights girls basketball team went the extra distance in practice, adding on an extra half hour to each session. The Knights went the extra distance again on Saturday when they knocked off league champion Weston-McEwen 46-43 in overtime to claim the program¶s ¿rst district title. Sophomore Jada Burns, who led the Knights with 17 points and sealed the win with a free throw that Staff photo by Kathy Aney Girls Basketball Irrigon Weston-McEwen 46 43 made it 44-40 with 18 seconds left in overtime, said she felt the extra practice time really helped. “It feels great. We worked at practice and we knew that the extra thirty minutes we put in at practice would come out,” she said. “We did what it takes to get here.” But even though they had prepared like champions, the Knights had a hard time getting things going at Pendleton Conven- tion Center on Saturday. Weston-Mcwen, which took runner-up for the second straight season, opened on a 12-0 run and the Knights didn¶t score their ¿rst points until Taylor Davis sank a pair of free throws with 1:35 left in the ¿rst quarter. Burns hit the team¶s ¿rst ¿eld goal with :13 left in the frame and the Knights trailed 12-4 headed into the second. “Honestly I think we were a little bit intimidated to start out with. We were nervous,” said Davis, who scored 12 points and pulled in seven rebounds. Irrigon coach Mike Royer could see the intimidation in his team¶s play. “We told the girls, ‘We have to start attacking more on offense and we have to keep taking the open shots, and they¶ll start falling.¶ /uckily our defense was good enough to where they couldn¶t extend the lead,” he said. “We just started chipping away.” See KNIGHTS/3B PENDLETON Prep Wrestling Bulldogs demolish District 4 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Heppner holds off Irrigon Mustangs muscle back from second half deficit for win Hermiston runs away with team title By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian East Oregonian BE1D — The Hermiston Bull- dogs placed 19 wrestlers on the podium on Saturday afternoon to boost the team to another Special District 4 championship. Hermiston ¿nished in ¿rst place with 435 points, while Redmond ¿nished second with 347 points and Bend at third place with 233.5 points. The Pendleton Buckaroos had a disappointing performance at the tournament, ¿nishing in sixth place with 132 points. The Bulldogs were paced by 45 See BULLDOGS/2B 50 Prep Wrestling Pioneers qualify 13 for state Staff photo by Kathy Aney Heppner’s Patrick Collins hugs head coach Jeremy Rosenbalm after winning Saturday’s Colum- bia Basin Conference championship game against Irrigon. East Oregonian /A GRA1DE — The MacHi Pioneers fell two points shy of a team district title, but ¿nished the day with 13 wrestlers qualifying for the state tournament next weekend. The Pioneers ¿nished in second place in the district with 253 points, while Baker claimed the district title with 255 points. /a Grande ¿nished third with 216.5 points and 2ntario ¿nished in fourth place with 133 points. Mac-Hi was powered by its 13 See PIONEERS/2B Prep Swimming Buckaroo boys take sixth place East Oregonian GRESHAM — The Pendleton Buckaroo boys swimming team capped off a successful season with a si[thplace ¿nish at the 2SAA State Championships on Saturday afternoon. Pendleton competed in four events in the ¿nals, and placed in the top three in three of the four events. The 200 yard Medley Relay team of Jon Jennings, Dylan Clemons, T.J. 2¶Hanlon, and /ukas Johnson See SWIMMING/2B The Heppner Mustangs achieved a feat on Saturday afternoon that no Mustangs boys basketball team has done in over a decade — win a district cham- pionship. The Mustangs held off the Irrigon Knights Boys Hoops 50-45 to secure the district crown, erasing a halftime de¿cit Irrigon and out-hustling the Knights in the second half to win the game. Heppner coach Jeremy Heppner Rosenbalm said that he is happy to bring the trophy back to Heppner. “It¶s so good for the boys,” he said. “This is a stepping stone of where we ultimately want to get to, and it feels really good for the team, the school, and the community to bring the title back to Heppner.” The Mustangs were led by a solid performance from senior Patrick Collins as he ¿nished with a game-high 21 points, while also grabbing 13 total rebounds, with six coming on the offensive end. Collins said winning the district title is a “surreal feeling.” “We knew from the beginning of the season we had a chance to be special, but we had to work hard and know that nothing would be given to us and we did that today,” Collins said. “We got out-hustled in the ¿rst half, but we knew we had to stick together and keep ¿ghting.” After Irrigon shot 10-22 (45 percent from the Àoor in the ¿rst half, the Mustangs defense buckled down and held the Knights to just 6-21 shooting (28 percent) in the second half. But where the Mustangs really won the game was on the glass, outrebounding Irrigon 36-18 in the game — including a 25-11 advantage in the second half with 12 offensive boards. “We knew we had to rebound better in order to win,” Collins said. “We knew if we started Staff photo by Kathy Aney Staff photo by Kathy Aney Weston Putman (1), of Heppner, goes to the basket during Saturday’s Columbia Basin Conference Basketball Tournament against Irrigon at the Pendleton Convention Center. Fredy Vera (12), of Irrigon, goes airborne against Heppner’s Patrick Collins (15) and Caden Hed- man (12) during Saturday at the Pendleton Con- vention Center. See HEPPNER/3B College Roundup Dorsey leads Ducks over Beavers, back to share of Pac-12 lead Associated Press & East Oregonian EUGE1E — When Tyler Dorsey showed up early for 2regon¶s shootaround before its rivalry rematch with 2regon State, his teammates could tell the freshman guard meant business. “He came in 1 hour before practice and started shooting,” senior Chris Boucher said, “so we knew he was ready. “He attacked more and made plays for others, and when he does that it really helps the team.” Dorsey matched his season high with 25 points, and 1o. 16 2regon regained a share of the Pac-12 lead with a 91-81 victory over 2regon State on Saturday night. Dillon Brooks added 17 points and Elgin Cook had 16 for the Ducks (21-6, 10-4), who tied a school record with their 23rd consecutive home win. 2regon and 1o. 12 Ari]ona have a one-game lead on Utah atop the conference standings with four games left in the regular season. Boucher had 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocks for 2regon, which went 29 of 33 from the foul line. Brooks made all 10 free throws, and Boucher was 9 of 10. See COLLEGE/2B
