SPORTS
TUESDA<, MARCH 8, 01
Sports shorts
OSU women win
Pac-12 title
SEATTLE — The road to
success is often paved with
failure.
For the
Oregon
State
women’s
basketball
team, that
has been the case at times
over the past few seasons.
But while the Beavers
may have fallen short a time
or two, they never wavered
in the philosophy that each
setback was a lesson they
needed to learn from in
order to get to where they
eventually want to be.
Behind what coach
Scott Rueck said was quite
possibly the most impressive
half of basketball one of
his Oregon State teams has
played in his nearly six full
seasons, the top-seeded
Beavers backed up their
regular season conference
co-championship with a
tournament title after a -5
win over No. 3 seed UCLA at
KeyArena on Sunday night.
Manning says time
is right to retire
1B
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MISSION
Golden Eagles cruise into third
Nixyaawii shoots 3
percent in first half
East Oregonian
BAKER CITY — The Nixyaawii Golden
Eagles rebounded from
Friday’s disappointing loss Boys Hoops
in the semi¿ nals to defeat the
Damascus Christian Eagles
81- to ¿ nish in third place
Damascus
in Class 1A.
The game was a
balanced effort on offense
by Nixyaawii (2-2) as all
¿ ve starters reached double
¿ gures in the game. Hunter
Nixyaawii
McKay was the high scorer
with 1 points on -13
shooting, earning him the
Moda Health Player of
the Game award. Both Damon Kipp and Ira
See GOLDEN EAGLES/3B
69
81
Photo courtesy of OSAA
The Nixyaawii boys basketball team poses with its third-place trophy from the OSAA 1A
state championships on Saturday. The Golden Eagles beat Damascus Christian 81-69 in Bak-
er City.
PENDLETON
Millers knock Buckaroos from playoffs
Springfield pulls
away in second half
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.
(AP) — His voice cracking
with emotion, Peyton
Manning said good bye to
the game he loved at a news
conference packed with
friends, family
FACES and laughter.
He threw in
some Scripture,
some fond
memories and
even a dig at
Super Bowl
50 MVP Von
Manning
Miller, whom
he thanked for taking a break
“from your celebrity tour to
be here today.”
He ended it with his
signature “Omaha!” and
then posed for pictures
with more than a dozen of
his former teammates with
the Indianapolis Colts and
Denver Broncos, each of
whom he helped win a Super
Bowl.
Manning, a two-time
Super Bowl champion who
turns 40 this month, said the
timing was simply right to
call an end to his 18-year
NFL career.
He ¿ nishes with 1,40
yards passing, 5 touch-
down and a career passer
rating of .5.
“Like last year,
it’s these guys
behind me. Put
me in the right
spot, talking to
me. It’s chemistry.
Offering it to
the program. It’s
bringing it back
where it belongs.
Just playing for
the Beavers.“
— Gary Payton II
Oregon State basketball
guard after winning Pac-
12 Defensive Player of
the Year for the second
straight season on Mon-
day. Payton is sixth in
the country in steals (2.4)
and is ninth in the Pac-12
in rebounding (7.6).
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1954 — The Milwaukee
Hawks beat the Baltimore
Bullets twice, 4-54 and
5-54, in the only double-
header in NBA history
involving the same teams.
2008 — At age 0,
Saoul Mamby loses a unan-
imous 10-round decision to
Anthony Osbourne in Grand
Cayman. Mamby, a former
super lightweight champion,
becomes the oldest boxer in a
sanctioned ¿ ght.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
After four lead changes in the ¿ rst
quarter and a couple of nice runs by
each team to close out the half, Satur-
day’s 5A boys basketball ¿ rst round
game between the Pendleton Buckaroos
and Spring¿ eld Millers looked to have
the makings of a nail-biter heading into
the locker rooms at the break.
That never mate-
rialized, though, and
Boys Hoops
the Millers came out
strong in the second
half to pull away and
Springfi eld
eliminate the Bucks
from the postseason
with a 4-4 win.
With
a
lethal
combination
of
top-end guard play
Pendleton
and strong posts, the
Millers (18-) proved
to be too much for the
Bucks (15-8), which
struggled at the rim after intermission.
Spring¿ eld’s Nick Ah Sam poured
in 12 of his game-high 30 points in the
third quarter to lead his team to the state
tournament’s ¿ nal site.
Pendleton coach Kyle Tedder said
they knew Ah Sam was they player they
needed to stop coming into the game,
they just couldn’t do it.
“He’s a high caliber player, shoot
he was Player of the Year in their
conference as a sophomore,” he said.
“We knew what he could do and we did
everything we could do to stop him. We
had Kai (Quinn) and Mekhi (Foreman)
on him all night, trying to not let him
get the ball and he still had 30, so much
respect to him and they played really
well.”
“It’s tough when you’ve got a player
like (Ah Sam) who can drive the way
the way he can,” said Pendleton senior
Daniel Adams. “They also have two
shooters that you’ve got to have help
side on, so it’s tough. He’s tough to
See BUCKAROOS/3B
64
49
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Pendleton’s James Bradt sails toward the basket during Saturday’s state playoff game against
Springfi eld at Warberg Court.
UMATILLA
Vikings hold off Portland Adventist for fourth
Umatilla win first state
trophy since 2011
East Oregonian
NORTH BEND — The Umatilla
Vikings went the entire fourth
quarter without making a ¿ eld goal,
but hit just enough free throws to
hold off Portland Adventist 41-3
in the OSAA 3A fourth-place game
on Saturday at North Bend High
School.
Aleesha Watson’s jump shot with
1:33 left in the third quarter capped
an 11-1 run by the Vikings to take a
3-2 lead into the ¿ nal frame. She
then sank one of two free throws
with 25 seconds left in the game to
reach the ¿ nal tally.
Portland Adventist’s Kaitlynn
Knapp pulled her team within one
with 40 seconds left when she hit
Girls Hoops
Umatilla
Portland Adventist
41
39
a three-pointer that made it 40-3,
but with a chance to tie in the ¿ nal
seconds Emma MacLachan missed
a layup and Umatilla’s Courtney
Dohman grabbed the last of her nine
rebounds to secure the win.
Dohman scored the ¿ rst points
in the game, which had six lead
changes and four ties and ¿ nished
with six points.
Watson led Umatilla with 13
points and added seven rebounds,
Brenda Campos went 3 for 4 at the
free throw line in the fourth quarter
and ¿ nished with nine points and
nine rebounds, and Sidney Webb
See VIKINGS/3B
Photo courtesy of OSAA
The Umatilla girls basketball team poses with its fourth-place tro-
phy from the OSAA 3A state championships on Saturday. Umatilla
beat Portland Adventist 41-39 in North Bend.