SPORTS
THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2016
1B
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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