Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, November 12, 2016
College Basketball
Melson helps No. 14 Gonzaga beat Utah Valley in opener
By NICHOLAS K.
GERANIOS
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. —
Gonzaga center Przemek
Karnowski missed almost
all last season with a back
injury, but he showed few
signs of rust as he scored
14 points in the 14th-ranked
Bulldogs’ 92-69 victory over
Utah Valley on Friday night.
“I haven’t been playing
for so long,” said Karnowski,
who was 7 of 10 from the
field and had seven rebounds.
“I’m excited to be out there.
“It’s a great start for the
season,” Karnowski said.
“Everyone contributed.”
Silas Melson scored 17
points, Jordan Mathews had
16 and Nigel Williams-Goss
added 14 points and six
assists for Gonzaga, which
was 28-8 last season and
advanced to the Round of 16
in the NCAA Tournament.
Melson added four assists
and two steals.
“He was great for us,”
Karnowski said. “You will see
him rise and shine this season.”
Mathews is one of four
transfers playing for the
Zags, who lost Domantas
Sabonis and Kyle Wiltjer to
the NBA after last season.
“I can score the basket-
ball,” said Mathews, who
made four 3-pointers. “That’s
what Coach wants me to do.”
Conner Toolson scored
19 points and Kenneth Ogbe
added 13 for Utah Valley (0-1),
which was 12-18 last season.
“They are a hard team to
play against,” Utah Valley
coach Mark Pope said. “This
is a hard venue.”
Gonzaga outshot the
Wolverines 52 percent to 36
percent and dominated the
rebounding 52-30.
“We’re just a much better
team than that,” Pope said.
“My guys played hard.
“They drilled us in the
post,” said Pope, pointing to
Gonzaga’s 42-24 advantage
on points in the paint.
Gonzaga made its first
three shots to take an 8-0
lead. Mathews’ 3-pointer,
part of a 9-0 run, helped push
the Bulldogs’ lead to 28-13.
Utah Valley put together
a 12-2 run, and consecutive
3-pointers by Toolson and
Ogbe cut Gonzaga’s lead to
30-25. It was the closest they
would come to the lead.
———
No.
11
INDIANA
103, No. 3 KANSAS 99,
OT — At Honolulu, James
Blackmon, Jr. scored 22 of
his 26 points after halftime
to lift Indiana in the Armed
Forces Classic.
The Hoosiers had five
players score in double
figures with Thomas Bryant
notching a double-double
with 19 points and 10
rebounds. Curtis Jones had 15
points, OG Anunoby had 13
and Robert Johnson added 10.
Indiana trailed by as many
as nine points, but shot 50
percent (14 of 28) in the
second half which ended in
an 87-87 tie.
Gonzaga
guard Si-
las Mel-
son (0)
shoots
against
Utah Val-
ley guard
Jordan
Poydras
during
the
second
half of
an NCAA
college
bas-
ketball
game in
Spokane,
Wash.,
Friday,
Nov. 11,
2016.
Gonzaga
won 92-
69.
No. 10 ARIZONA 65,
No. 12 MICHIGAN ST.
63 — At Honolulu, Kadeem
Allen took the ball the length
of the court and scored with
1.3 seconds left for Arizona
in the Armed Forces Classic.
Kobi Simmons led the
Wildcats with 18 points
while Lauri Markkanen
scored 13 points and grabbed
six rebounds. Allen finished
with 10 points.
The Wildcats won despite
playing
without
guard
Allonzo Trier, who is out for
unspecified reasons. Trier
was Arizona’s third-leading
scorer last season at 14.8
points per game.
Michigan State freshman
Miles Bridges wowed the
crowd with some impressive
dunks and he finished with 21
points and seven rebounds.
AP Photo/
Young Kwak
STANFIELD: Tigers hold Wolverines to 190 total yards
Continued from 1B
“Santiam came to play
today and we had to respond.
Sometimes you get punched
in the mouth and you’ve
got to get back up and keep
fighting. My guys kept
fighting,” Stanfield coach
Davie Salas said. “Hat’s off
to (Santiam). They played
a great game, had a great
game plan. If I was coaching
against the Stanfield Tigers
I’d eat the clock myself.”
The Tigers (10-1) had
just two possessions in the
first half, and their first was
a three-and-out. When Salas
called a timeout with 7:18
left in the second quarter after
Santiam drove the ball into
the red zone, the Wolverines
held a full 15-minute advan-
tage on the clock.
Out of the timeout
Santiam quarterback Riley
Nicot completed a pair of
short passes to move the ball
to the Stanfield five-yard
line, but one of the Wolver-
ines’ several false starts
immediately backed them up
to the 10.
Stanfield’s defense then
made the first of its game-
changing plays and jarred
the ball from Santiam’s
runner as he plunged into
the line. Monkus jumped on
the fumble to give the Tigers
possession at their own five
with a few ticks past five
minutes left in the half.
“In that first timeout we
just talked about getting our
heads together. We didn’t
expect (Santiam) to come out
and play as hard as they did,”
said Grogan. “When they’re
that close you want to get
the ball back and change the
momentum of the game, it
was pretty big.”
A personal foul on Santiam
helped jump-start the Tigers’
drive, and a 17-yard run
up the gut by Blankenship
got them out near midfield.
Facing 3rd-and-11, the Tigers
lined up in a run formation
and fooled the Wolverines
with a screen to Monkus in
the middle of the field that
picked up the first down and
took the ball into Wolverines
territory for the first time
with 2:21 left in the half.
The Tigers were soon
looking at 3rd-and-long
again on Santiam’s 45, but
dialed up the perfect play
to catch the Wolverines
cheating up to stop the run.
Grogan froze the secondary
with a fake hand-off, then
looked up to see a wide-open
Justin Shelby waving his arm
as he streaked up the middle
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Stanfield’s Brody Woods punts the ball into a thick layer of fog Friday against Santiam in Stanfield.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Stanfield’s Thyler Monkus rushes the ball against San-
tiam on Friday in Stanfield.
Stanfield’s Trevor Shockman wraps up Santiam’s Kraig
Arndt on Friday in Stanfield.
past the last line of defense.
The pass came in just at the
edge of Shelby’s reach, and he
was able to secure the ball just
as a Santiam defender dragged
him down from behind at the
two-yard line with 33 seconds
left in the half.
“We’d seen that on film,
seen that in their mistakes,
so we knew that was going
to be a pretty good play,”
said Grogan, who finished
5-of-11 for 89 yards and ran
the ball 10 times for 61 yards.
“I knew where I was going to
look with my first read, and I
saw him open.”
“I seen the safety and he
was bout 10 yards under me
so I was just throwing my
hand up and hoping (Grogan)
would see me,” said Shelby.
“I was thinking, ‘You drop
this ball you’re fired.’”
A holding penalty on first
down pushed the Tigers back
to the 10, but they were back
on the shadow of the goal line
with two seconds to go after a
seven-yard quarterback draw
on third down. Needing just
two more yards to put his team
on top, Grogan called his own
number again. He stretched
over the line and held onto
the ball despite taking a hard
hit that opened a gash on the
back of his right hand.
“We had two seconds left,
I knew I had to put it in, it
was fourth down,” Grogan
said. “All in right there, so
once I got stood up I reached
over with my long arms.”
Enoel Angel kicked the
extra point to give the Tigers
a 7-0 lead at halftime, and
they would have the ball
coming out of the break.
“I felt like we were in
control,” Grogan said. “I
knew our defense would
stand up and I felt like the
guys were into it after that.”
Stanfield, which averaged
41.7 points a game coming
into Friday, had struggled to
get its running game going in
the first half against a phys-
ical Wolverines front, totaling
56 yards on nine carries.
“Once we got everyone
into the locker room, our line
talked about their jobs, what
they needed to do, came out
in the second half and was
successful,” said Monkus,
who had a game-high 103
yards on 14 carries. “Our line
did a great job the second
half, a lot more room to run.”
The Tigers came out and
ran the ball 11 times for 56
yards on their first drive,
which Blankenship capped
with a two-yard plunge to
make it 13-0 with 6:58 left in
the third quarter.
The extra point sailed
wide, but the Tigers made
sure they wouldn’t need
it with a stifling defensive
effort that held the Wolver-
ines to 71 yards in the second
half and 190 for the game.
In their last four games
the Tigers have allowed just
26 total points, and picked up
their second shutout in that
span.
“We’ve been harping on
defense, you know, defense
wins you championships,”
Salas said. “I think we all
know it, at every level …
when you play defense you
have a chance to win, and
that’s the approach that
I’m taking around here. In
the past Stanfield’s always
put up a lot of points but
defensively is where we’ve
got to take our next step. And
I think we’re doing it at the
right time.”
A major difference for the
Tigers in the second half was
in the passing game, where
Nicot went 3-of-8 with an
interception after passing
at will in the first half. He
finished 10-of-16 for 131
yards.
“We ended up going man
on man, which helped out
a little bit because we were
more aware,” said Grogan.
“We didn’t expect that out
of them in the first half, they
were just passing all over
us.”
Brody Woods had a pair
of breakups and intercepted
a pass in the end zone with
3:12 left in the game to end
Santiam’s final drive. That
pass, like several from Nicot
in the second half, came under
pressure. The defense was
led Shelby with two sacks
while Jose Garcia and Mario
Sanchez each added 1.5.
The Tigers would hold
the ball the rest of the way
and finished out in victory
formation. Santiam achieved
its goal of winning the time
of possession battle by more
than seven minutes, but
Stanfield held more than a
five-minute advantage in the
second half.
Stanfield finished with
300 yards on offense and
carried the ball 33 times for
211 yards. Penalties hurt both
teams, and Stanfield finished
with eight for 77 yards while
Santiam was flagged 13
times for 95 yards.
The Tigers were the only
2A team to advance on Friday
as all other quarterfinals
games will be played today.
The Tigers’ semifinal oppo-
nent will be the winner of No.
6 Toledo at No. 3 Kennedy.
Whichever team it is, the
Tigers said they’ll be ready.
“We don’t want to be
cocky because the job’s not
finished,” Shelby said. “So
we just go out there and play
some football.”
———
SAN
0 0
0
0 — 0
SHS
0 7
6
0 — 13
Scoring plays
2nd Quarter
:02 — SHS Dylan Grogan 2 run (Enoel
Angel kick), 7-0
3rd Quarter
6:54 — SHS Makiah Blankenship 2 run
(kick missed), 13-0
Statistics
PASSING — Santiam: Riley Nicot 10-16-
1, 131. Stanfield: Dylan Grogan 5-11-0, 89.
RUSHING — Santiam (37-59). Stanfield
(33-211, 2 TD): Thyler Monkus 14-103; Dylan
Grogan 10-61, TD; Makiah Blankenship
7-34, TD; Justin Keeney 2-13.
RECEIVING — Stanfield: Justin Shelby
1-43, Brody Woods 3-34, Thyler Monkus
1-12.
BLAZERS: Sacramento takes lead with 11-5 run to start fourth quarter
Continued from 1B
McCollum
added
a
19-footer to put Portland in
front, but a loose ball foul
on the Blazers gave Sacra-
mento’s Darren Collison two
free throws. He made both,
giving the Kings a 120-119
lead with 33.8 seconds left.
Cousins said Sacramen-
to’s issues have mirrored
Lillard’s assessment of his
own team.
“Throughout this whole
season we’ve shown flashes
of who we can be, but we’ve
got to get past that stage of
showing flashes and be the
team that we want to be,”
Cousins said.
Leonard made his first
start of the season for the
Blazers, who were without
forward Al-Farouq Aminu
for the second straight game
because of a left calf injury.
Aminu started the first
eight games for the Blazers,
averaging 6.4 points and
6.6 rebounds before he was
hurt Tuesday night early in
Portland’s 124-121 victory
over Phoenix.
Addressing the media
before Friday night’s game,
Stotts said Aminu would be
re-evaluated after two weeks.
Leonard’s
thunderous
dunk put the Blazers up
32-27 late in the first quarter,
and they led by 12 en route
to a 62-57 advantage at the
break. McCollum led all
scorers at halftime with 16
points.
Cousins’ fadeaway in the
third quarter tied the game at
68, and Gay hit a 3-pointer to
put the Kings in front. Lillard
nailed a 3 from far outside
the arc to give Portland back
the lead at 79-76.
The Blazers held an 84-83
edge to start the fourth but
fell behind 95-88 after a pair
of free throws with 6:31 left.
Crabbe’s jumper put Portland
in front before Lillard hit
another 3 to make it 99-95.
Cousins’ 3-pointer pulled
the Kings to 106-104 with
less than a minute to go in
regulation, and his layup
tied it with 9.7 seconds left.
Lillard’s 3-pointer at the
buzzer was off the mark,
sending the game to overtime.
Portland was coming off a
111-80 loss to the Clippers in
Los Angeles on Wednesday
night.
THE TAKEAWAY
Kings: Collison returned
to the Kings this week after
an eight-game suspension to
start the season. He pleaded
guilty to misdemeanor
domestic battery after an
incident at his Sacramen-
to-area home in May.
Trail Blazers: Leonard
and Cousins got into it in
the first quarter and received
offsetting
technicals.
Cousins has been mentioned
in numerous trade rumors
of late, including some
involving the Blazers. ...
Portland is 5-0 when Lillard
and McCollum both score at
least 30 points.
BLOWING
THE
WHISTLE
Cousins can’t understand
why he’s not getting foul
calls.
“I don’t understand it,”
he said. “I don’t know what
I have to do. I just don’t
understand it. I have to play
through a lot. I’m not really
rewarded for it, but I’m just
trying to stay mentally strong
through it.”
PERFECT 10
Lillard has 306 points,
most by a Trail Blazers player
in the opening 10 games of a
season. He’s also the first to
score 30 or more points six
times in the first 10 games of
a season.
UP NEXT
Kings:
Sacramento
hosts San Antonio next
Wednesday.
Trail Blazers: Portland
hosts the Denver Nuggets on
Sunday.