SPORTS TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS HERMISTON NBA Playoffs Warriors rally in overtime Eagles clip Dawgs Curry returns, scores 40 points to lead Golden State over Portland in Game 4 Hood River comes from behind in seventh, clinches CRC crown By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press PORTLAND — Stephen Curry returned from a sprained right knee to score an NBA-record 17 points in overtime, inishing with 40 as the Golden State Warriors rallied to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semiinals with a 132-125 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night. Playing for the irst time since he was injured in Game 4 of the irst-round series against Houston, Curry was rusty for three quarters and sensational Game 4 down the stretch after the Warriors trailed by as much as 16 points. Originally expected to play Golden State about 25 minutes off the bench, Curry picked up a heavier workload in the second half after Shaun Livingston, who had been starting in his absence, Portland was ejected in the second quarter after arguing a call and picking up two technical fouls. His victorious return came • Golden hours after a person with State leads knowledge of the award told series 3-1 The Associated Press that Curry would repeat as NBA MVP, with the announcement coming as early as Tuesday. The Warriors can win the series Wednesday night at home in Game 5. Damian Lillard inished with 36 points and 10 assists for Portland. Curry’s fast-break layup gave the defending NBA champions a 120-118 lead with 2:21 left in the extra period. He followed with a 3-pointer, pounding his chest and pumping his ist in cele- bration, posturing for the courtside fans. Harrison Barnes’ layup extended the lead to 125-118 and Portland couldn’t catch up. Klay Thompson inished with 23. Curry’s long jumper gave the Warriors a 92-87 lead with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter. Lillard’s 3-pointer gave Portland back a 99-97 lead, but Curry nailed his irst 3 of the game to give the Warriors a 103-100 lead with 4:35 left. Draymond Green dunked to keep Golden State within 109-108 late in regulation. Mason Plumlee’s inger-roll layup extended Portland’s margin but Barnes tied it at 111-all with a 3-pointer for Golden State with 51 seconds left, By MIKE WEBER For the East Oregonian HOOD RIVER — Leading 5-2 in the seventh inning over the Hood River Valley Eagles, the Hermiston Bulldogs were just three outs away from possibly getting a Baseball second-straight win over the defending Class 5A state champions. Hermiston The No. 13 ranked Bulldogs, guided by coach Lance Hawkins, came ever so close to doing that too, but were just unable to hold on to Hood River their lead at the end. The No. 2 ranked Columbia River Conference champion Eagles proved worthy of their recognition as they over- came the margin with a four-run seventh to pull out a 6-5 win Monday at Hood River Valley High School. A walk-off RBI See DAWGS/2B 5 132 6 125 See BLAZERS/2B Photo by Mike Weber for the East Oregonian Hermiston’s Hayden Edmiston con- nects for a hit in the third innings of a baseball game against Hood River on Monday in Hood River. AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, left, shoots over Portland Trail Blaz- ers guard C.J. McCollum, right, during the second half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series, Monday, May 9, 2016, in Portland. HERMISTON Prep Roundup Central Valley beats inconsistent Bulldogs Herm- iston’s Mark Mejia (2) sprints past the Central Valley defense during Hermis- ton’s 20-9 loss on Saturday at Kenni- son Field in Herm- iston. Hermiston lacrosse wilts in fourth quarter By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian Staff photo by Gary L. West Runners pass Hermiston Butte while participat- ing in the Butte Challege on Saturday in Hermis- ton. The event is a fundraiser for the Hermiston High School cross country program. Hermiston man wins Butte Challenge East Oregonian More than 265 people participated in the 2016 Butte Challenge on Saturday to raise money for the cross country program at Hermiston High School. A inal tally of the money raised was not completed by late Monday, but event coordi- nator Jeanne Jewett said the event raised about $2,800. The top runner on Saturday in the 10 kilometer race was Joe Hodge, 51, of Hermiston who inished in a time off 44 minutes, 5 seconds. Angie Treadwell, 40, of Hermiston inished with the second fastest time in the 10K, which also made her the top female inisher at Hodge 45:31. In the 5K run, Erik Ramirez, 21, of Othello, Washington, inished irst with a time of 20:38 and Kelsey Trotter, 23, of Hermiston was the top female in 24:54. Hermiston’s Tamara Brock, 56, won the 5K walk in 34:32 and the top male walker was also of Hermiston as Matthew Lidrich, 48, inished in 37:55. According to the event website, there were 40 entrants in the 10K run, 167 in the 5K run, 47 in the 5K walk and 13 in the event’s kids race for a total of 267 entrants. For a list of complete, unoficial results go to www. buttechallenge.com and click on the “Results” button. HERMISTON — Consistency has plagued the Hermiston Bulldogs lacrosse team all season long. The Bulldogs have had tremendous performances in singular quarters or halves of games, and they have pieced together a few good wins here and there, but they have rarely been able to put together complete perfor- mances for a signiicant period of time. It was the same story for the team on Saturday after- noon, as the Bulldogs fell apart late in a 20-9 defeat at the hands of the Central Staff photo by Eric Singer Valley Bears at Kennison Field. It was the second loss of the season to the Bears, as the Bulldogs fell 10-6 on Mar. 22 in Spokane. Hermiston coach Jacob Arnold said it was the details of the team’s game that led to their downfall on Saturday. “We need to clean up the little things like penalties,” he said. “We played a lot of the game a man down today and if we can clean up that area then we’re just as good as anybody else.” See PREPS/2B Marte’s homer, four hits leads Mariners over Rays By CURTIS CRABTREE Associated Press SEATTLE — Ketel Marte hit a tiebreaking three-run homer off Steve Geltz and had a career-high four hits to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night. Felix Hernandez (3-2) allowed just two runs on four hits over seven innings to pick up the win. Steve Cishek earned his 10th save of the season. Dana Eveland (0-1) was saddled with the loss. Marte went 4 for 5 with two doubles, three RBIs and three runs scored. With the game tied at 2 in the sixth inning, Marte hammered the irst offering from reliever Geltz over the right ield wall to give the Mariners a solo shot in the ifth to MLB 5-2 cushion. give Tampa Bay a 2-1 The Mariners were edge. 0 for 9 with runners in Marte scored on a Seattle scoring position before Tampa Bay wild pitch from Rays’ Marte’s homer, his irst of starter Matt Moore to the season. His three RBIs tie the game at 2 in the matched a career high. ifth inning. Seattle left runners stranded on TRAINER’S ROOM second and third base in each of the Mariners: RHP Taijuan Walker is irst two innings. expected to be ine for his next start on Marte doubled to lead off the third Wednesday against Tampa Bay. Walker inning and advanced to third on a left his last start after two innings due groundout by Robinson Cano. Marte to neck spasms. The issue has subsided beat a strong throw home from Kevin in recent days and he was able to throw Kiermaier to score the irst run of the his normal bullpen session on Monday. game on Nelson Cruz’s sacriice ly. ... RHP Joaquin Benoit was expected Corey Dickerson homered off to throw a light bullpen session on Hernandez to lead off the fourth Monday as he works back from inlam- inning, and Evan Longoria added a mation in his right shoulder. 2 5