Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 10, 2016)
SPORTS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PENDLETON PENDLETON Buckaroos’ Smith signs with Saints T-Wolves win barn burner Pendleton senior to continue basketball career at Saint Martin’s University Pendleton seniors Ca- den Smith, left, and Haley Greb, right, sign national letters of intent with St. Martin’s and Colora- do St., re- spectively, on Wednes- day during a ceremony at Pendle- ton High School’s Warberg Court. By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian For as long as Caden Smith can remember, he has dreamt of playing college basketball. And on Wednesday evening, seated at a table in front of dozens of family, friends, and teachers at Warberg Court in the Pendleton High School gymna- sium, Smith’s dream became reality. Smith, the Pend- leton senior and reigning Columbia River Conference Player of the Year, put pen to paper and signed his National Letter of Intent to play college basketball at Saint Martin’s University — a NCAA Division II school in Lacey, Washington. See SMITH/2B Staff photo by Eric Singer BMCC closes out regular season by beating Yakima Valley East Oregonian YAKIMA, Wash. — The Blue Mountain volleyball team got a great tune-up for the NWAC Cham- pionships in its regular-season fi nale on Wednesday when Yakima See T-WOLVES/2B STANFIELD Tigers see themselves in Wolverines No. 2 Stanfi eld hosts No. 10 Santiam in quarterfi nals Stanfi eld’s Thyler Monkus locks up with Cen- tral Linn’s Mason Sloan in the Tigers’ 55-14 win against the Co- bras on Friday, Nov. 4, in Stanfi eld. By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian The Stanfi eld Tigers have enjoyed one of the largest home-fi eld advantages in the state this season, posting a 6-0 record at Horyna Athletic Complex while outscoring their foes 282-103. The No. 2 Tigers (9-1) continued that home domi- nance with a 55-14 win over No. 15 Central Linn in the fi rst round of the 2A football state playoffs that was their fi rst home postseason game in 69 years. The Tigers show no signs of slowing down coming into Friday’s quarterfi nals match-up with No. 10 Santiam (7-3), but head coach Davie Salas and his players know fi rsthand how quickly home-fi eld advantage can evaporate in the playoffs. Salas said he sees a lot of similarities between the 2016 Santiam Wolverines and the 2015 Stanfi eld Tigers, which won the program’s fi rst two Staff photo by E.J. Harris playoff games in more than half a century, and did it on the road to reach the state semifi nals. Santiam’s playoff drought wasn’t nearly as long lived, but the Wolverines still tasted the fi rst postseason success of any of their playing careers when the team went into Lost River and upset the No. Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, bot- tom, dunks as Portland Trail Blazers forward Noah Von- leh defends during the fi rst half of an NBA basketball game, Wednes- day, Nov. 9, 2016, in Los Angeles. AP Photo/ Mark J. Terrill 7 Raiders 35-20 last week. It was their fi rst playoff win since 2008. “I just see a hungry team,” Salas said of Dennis Dunlea’s Raiders. “They obviously went down to Lost River and were able to beat a pretty good Lost River team, so I know they’re well coached. “They say the hunter sometimes becomes the hunted and we’re the hunted right now. When you get to the quarterfi nals and the semifi nals there’s not much of a difference between the teams. They’re here for a reason and we’re going to go out there and play hard.” The Wolverines and Tigers also share some more tangible similarities, one being that both rely on strong running attacks to score their points, although quarterback is Riley Nicot’s role is much more of the traditional passer than Stanfi eld’s Dylan Grogan. “They pound the ball and they’ve got the hogs up front to block for them,” Salas Football Santiam Stanfi eld Wolverines Tigers (7-3) (9-1) • Friday, 6 p.m. • at Horyna Athletic Complex • Radio: KOHU 1360 AM said. “They’ve got some good running backs, and they throw the ball pretty well.” Sophomore Trevor Tinney scored three rushing touchdowns and Lost River, Jordan Lanham had a touch- down receiving and rushing, and the defense also limited Lost River to just 142 yards rushing on 36 carries. Stanfi eld tagged the Wolverines’ Tri-River Conference fellows Central Linn for 481 total yards with 294 coming on the ground. “I feel like we match up pretyy good,” Salas said of the battle in the trenches. “They’ve got some big guys up front and they get after it, and we just need to be able to keep running the ball between the tackles.” That could be a little tougher this week as starting center Abraham Gomez, a senior who also starts See TIGERS/2B NBA Clippers roll over Trail Blazers By BETH HARRIS Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Blake Griffi n had 22 points and 13 rebounds, Chris Paul added 19 points, and the Los Angeles Clippers rolled past the Port- land Trail Blazers 111-80 on Wednesday night to improve to an NBA-best 7-1 with their fourth straight win. It was the Clippers’ second victory over the Blazers this season. This one was never close. The Clippers stunned Portland from the opening tip, shooting 59 percent in the a n y o n e fi rst quarter. in double They built a fi gures until 32-point lead Portland Los Angeles S h a b a z z in the fi rst Napier hit half when a 3-pointer Griffi n had with under 2 17 points. Los Angeles’ bench minutes left in the game. He opened the second quarter led the team with 11 points. on a 14-2 run to go up 50-18 DeAndre Jordan had 16 before extending the lead to points and nine rebounds 61-32 at halftime. and J.J. Redick added 10 Portland’s Damian Lillard, points for the Clippers, who the NBA’s second-leading sat their starters for good scorer at 32.8 points, was held at 3:54 of the third while to eight points. CJ McCollum, owning a 44-point lead. who was averaging 22.9 Before the starters left, points, also scored eight. they began the quarter with The Blazers didn’t have a 17-3 run that stretched the 80 111 Clippers’ lead to 78-35. Each of the fi ve starters scored in the spurt. Paul and Luc Mbah a Moute each had a 3-pointer and Jordan slammed down a two-handed fastbreak dunk off Griffi n’s alley-oop pass. It was one of three signature dunks by Jordan in the period that ended with consecutive 3-pointers by reserves Marreese Speights and Austin Rivers, leaving the Clippers ahead 93-50. The Clippers’ defense held Portland to 35 shooting. The Blazers made just 6 of 30 3-point attempts as their three-game winning streak got snapped. Sports shorts Tony Romo a full-go in practice FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Tony Romo has been listed as a full practice participant for the fi rst time since the Dallas quarterback broke a bone in his back in a preseason game in August. The 36-year-old Romo ran with the scout team in practice Wednesday. Rookie Dak Prescott remains the starter with the Cowboys (7-1) surging to the best record in the NFC. Dallas visits Pittsburgh (4-4) on Sunday. Coach Jason Garrett said the Romo starting quarterback gets almost all the reps with the fi rst team in practice, and that plan was no different this week. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who went 13-0 in the regular season as the starter when he was a rookie in 2004, said it would be “really hard to kind of change that position” with the Cowboys rolling the way they are. “Somehow, someway, we are going to fi nd a way not to be 0-16. That’s not where we want to be. We don’t want to be 0-9 right now to be very honest with you.“ — Hue Jackson Cleveland Browns head coach says he remains upbeat despite his team’s struggles this season. The Browns slide will likely con- tinue on Thursday when they host the Ravens, a game where the Browns are 10-point underdogs. Voters overwhelmingly reject Chargers stadium measure SAN DIEGO (AP) — Voters have overwhelmingly rejected a measure that would have raised $1.15 billion from increased hotel occupancy taxes to help pay for a new stadium for the San Diego Chargers. Measure C, which was written by the Chargers without input from City Hall, the powerful tourism industry or other stake- holders, was defeated 57 percent to 43 percent. It needed 66.7 percent to pass. The measure would have increased the hotel tax to help pay for a $1.8 billion stadium and convention center annex downtown near Petco Park. Team chairman Dean Spanos, whose attempt to move the Chargers to the Los Angeles suburb of Carson angered fans and was rebuffed by fellow NFL owners, said in a statement Wednesday that he will consider his options THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1990 — The Phoenix Suns shatter the NBA record with 107 points in the fi rst half of a 173-143 victory over the Denver Nuggets. 1996 — Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino surpasses 50,000 career yards passing in a 37-13 win over Indianapolis. Marino also reaches 4,000 completions, another NFL fi rst, with his 10th completion of the game. 2007 — Miami ends its 70-year stay at the famed Orange Bowl with the biggest shutout loss in the stadium’s history a 48-0 rout to Virginia. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
