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