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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2016)
SPORTS THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Sports shorts Women’s College Basketball WSU lost $13.2 million in 2015 Heehn caps record-setting Three’s season with championship not a crowd T PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — The athletic department at Washington State University will run a de¿ cit of more than $13 million for ¿ scal 201, in part because of mandates by the Paci¿ c-12 and NCAA and lower-than-projected television revenues. Athletic Director Bill Moos announced the second straight year of losses on Tuesday. Last year, WSU reported a $13. million de¿ cit for ¿ scal year 201. The Spokesman-Review reports that WSU’s athletic department spent $67.3 million in ¿ scal 201, but had overall revenues of $.1 million, creating a $13.2 million de¿ cit. Moos says the gap between revenues and expenses is effectively a loan the department takes from the university. Broncos lose guard Mathis to Arizona TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Evan Mathis, a starting guard for the Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos last season, and the Arizona Cardinals have agreed to terms on a one-year contract. A person FACES familiar with the situation said the deal is worth $6 million, plus $69 because his uniform number is 69. Mathis The person asked for anonymity because the terms were not of¿ cially released. Mathis, a 2013 All-Pro and two-time Pro Bowl selection, ¿ lls an immediate need and is an upgrade at right guard for the Cardinals, who sent Jonathan Cooper to New England on Tuesday as part of the trade that brought defensive end/outside linebacker Chandler Jones to Arizona. “I was a little surprised at the stance that he took. It’s unfortunate. But talk about a quality decision, a life decision and a family decision. He talked about being there for his family and family i rst and front and center, and I respect and admire that.“ — Kenny Williams Chicago White Sox president on the abrubt decision of i rst baseman Adam LaRoche, 36, to retire after Williams asked that LaRoche’s son spend less time around the team. By all accounts Drake LaRoche, 14, was well-liked and helpful when he was in the clubhouse, but Williams said he wanted fewer distractions for the team this season. LaRoche was scheduled to make $13 million this season. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 2010 — Michael Jordan becomes the ¿ rst ex-player to be a majority owner in the National Basketball Asso- ciation. The NBA’s Board of Governors unanimously approve Jordan’s $27 million bid to buy the Charlotte Bobcats from Bob Johnson. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com OUR VIEW Contributed photo by Tracy Swisher/NWAC Lane Community College sophomore Gabby Heehn is introduced with the starting lineup during Sun- day’s NWAC Women’s Basketball Championship in Everett, Wash. Heehn hit her fi rst fi ve three-point- ers of the game to help the Titans establish a lead they would never relinquish in a 76-59 win over Peninsula. Former Buck and Bulldog shoots Lane to NWAC title By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian For former Pendleton and Hermiston basket- ball standout Gabby Heehn, the 201-16 season was all or nothing. At least that’s how she was viewing it entering her ¿ nal year of eligibility at Lane Community College coming off an ACL tear suffered in the third game of what would have been her sophomore year. “I put in a lot of time and effort just trying to get back to where I was before I tore my ACL, because ACL injuries are kind of a make or break,” said the 2013 Hermiston graduate of the knee injury. Not only did Heehn regain the physical tools that allowed her star as an outside shooting threat at Pendleton, then Hermiston, she went a step further. Heehn knocked down a school-record 12 three-pointers during the Titans NWAC-cham- pionship season that culminated on Sunday with a 76-9 victory over Peninsula in Everett, Washington. It was a rematch of the 201-1 champi- onship, which Heehn had to watch from the sidelines as her team fell to the Pirates -7. “It was kind of like a revenge thing, it felt great,” she said. See HEEHN/2B Lane Com- munity College sophomore Gabby Heehn shoots a three-point- er against Peninsula in the NWAC Women’s Basketball Champion- ship on Sun- day in Ev- erett, Wash. Heehn went 6 for 8 on three-point- ers in the game to help the Titans beat the Pi- rates 76-59. Contributed photo by Tracy Swisher/NWAC Prep Basketball Vera headlines locals on all-state rosters Heppner leads region with three selections East Oregonian Irrigon Knights senior Fredy Vera accomplished a lot over his high school basketball career. He was a crucial part of Irrigon teams that won back-to-back state championships in 201 and 201, found his name on an all-state roster, and even picked up a Columbia Basin Conference Player of the Year award for 201-2016. Now he can add one more acco- lade to that list as he was named to the ¿ rst team all-state roster for 201-2016, as voted by all of the coaches in the 2A classi¿ cation. Vera almost single-handily carried his Knights squad to a 17-8 record, a second-place ¿ nish at the CBC district tournament and a trip back to the postseason, where they fell just short of advancing to the state bracket with a close loss to Kennedy. He was a second team all-state selection in 201. The region also had one represen- tative on the second team roster, as Heppner Mustangs senior forward Patrick Collins was selected by the coaches to the team for the second- straight year. Collins averaged a double-double this season, and shot well over 0 percent from the À oor, all while anchoring the Mustangs defensive unit on their way to a state See ALL-STATE/2B EO fi le photo/Kathy Aney In this Feb. 20, 2016 fi le photo, Fredy Vera (12), of Irrigon, goes air- borne against Heppner’s Patrick Collins (15) and Caden Hedman (12) during the Columbia Basin Conference Basketball Tournament at the Pendleton Convention Center. he state of of¿ ciating is a pretty popular discussion topic in today’s sports landscape. Our society today wants their games of¿ ciated correctly and precisely, and will go to great lengths to assure that. We have seen the introduction and ¿ ne tuning of instant replay in sports to make sure calls are correct and we have seen sports such as Major League Baseball discuss using robots to make sure plays are even more correct. So with that in mind, I was stumped to see just two of¿ cials for each of the OSAA’s 2A state tournament games two weeks ago, and then ¿ nd out Eric there were Singer only two Comment of¿ cials for each of the tournament games in each of the six classi¿ cations. I had seen three-person crews with my own eyes during the regular season, so I knew they existed, and was confused as to why the OSAA would deploy the minimal two-person teams for the biggest games of the year. Growing up in Ohio, it was a rarity to see only two of¿ cials for a varsity basketball game, let alone the state championship games. But as it turns out, 201-2016 was the ¿ rst year the OSAA had used three-person of¿ ciating crews. OSAA associate executive director Cindy Simmons said the decision is up to the individual schools and leagues, and the reasons against increasing the of¿ cials was often in part to the ability to staff the games with three each night and the cost of adding a third of¿ cial. “We had made some special exceptions for three person crews in the past for leagues that couldn’t staff two for each (the boys and girls) game,” she said. “We have been trying to move towards three-person crews for a number of years, but there are a whole lot of moving parts for the schools.” Nine of the OSAA’s 38 basketball leagues agreed to staff three of¿ cials for their games this season, with the Columbia River Conference being one of them. Hermiston girls basketball coach Steve Hoffert said he has mixed feelings on the change, saying that he prefers the two-person crew. “I think it does more for the game, because sometimes with three people there’s not a good À ow,” he said. “The physicality can get taken away at points which hurts teams like us that like our defensive pressure.” But here is my plea to the OSAA and the rest of its member schools: it’s time to pony up for three of¿ cials. The game of basketball is played at such a fast pace and the kids playing the game are so much quicker and stronger that two sets of eyes of¿ ciating the game is not enough any more. A third of¿ cial ¿ lls in a big blind spot on the court and is key for picking up off-the-ball action that often goes unnoticed by the two of¿ cials focusing on the ball and the basket. Three of¿ cials are deployed at the collegiate See SINGER/2B
