SPORTS
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016
1B
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS
PENDLETON
Pendleton
Kaden
Smith
drives past
Baker’s Wy-
att Akers in
the Bucks’
87-46 win
against the
Bulldogs
on Wednes-
day in
Pendleton.
Smith, Bucks start hot
Pendleton on target, opens
season with rout of Baker
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
87-46 in nonconference boys’ basketball at
Warberg Court.
“It all started pre-game,
just getting mentally
ready for the fi rst big
Baker
game of the season, my
boys hyping me up,” said
Smith, who fi nished with a
game-high 32 points. “We
just followed through and
it was a good start to the
Pendleton
season.”
“I think it’s good that
Caden got those fi ve
threes right in the beginning. He just
See BUCKS/2B
46
Caden Smith hit fi ve three-pointers in a
row to get the Buckaroos going, and Pend-
leton followed the lead of its senior captain
to roll past Baker in its season opener on
Wednesday night.
Smith fi nished 7-for-8 from distance,
and the Buckaroos shot 56 percent from
the fi eld as a team to out-pace the Bulldogs
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris
87
East Oregonian
Dawgs leave good impressions
Hermiston’s
Maddy Juul
passes to a
teammate
around Han-
nah Gilm-
ore, of Walla
Walla during
Wednes-
day’s
non-confer-
ence game
at The Daw-
ghouse.
Staff photo by
Kathy Aney
Hermiston boys, girls both usher in new eras with victories
Wednesday night signaled the
start of a new era in Hermiston
varsity basketball.
The boys and girls varsity
teams kicked off their respective
campaigns at home against Walla
Walla, marking the fi rst games
under fi rst-year girls head coach
Juan Rodriguez and fi rst-year boys
head coach Casey Arstein. And
after a combined 64 minutes of
hard-fought action in both games,
both coaches were happy to start
off their head coaching careers
1-0 as the Bulldog girls put away
Walla Walla 60-42 and the boys a
57-48 victory.
the Bulldog girls
Girls Basketball
“It feels really
rode a strong defen-
good,” Rodriguez
sive performance to
said of the win. “It’s
the victory as the
been fi ve months Walla Walla Hermiston team forced Walla
since I took over
Walla turnovers and
and we’ve been
held the opponent to
preparing for this
34 percent shooting
game for a long time. I wasn’t sure — including a 3-18 mark from
of what to expect with kind of a 3-point range.
new team, but I’m very pleased
“We were really happy with that
with the way the girls played, effort,” Rodriguez said. “That’s
especially defensively.”
what we preach, getting the other
“I’m really happy for the kids,” team out of their comfort zone and
Arstein said with a grin. “It was getting in the passing lanes and we
a fun fi rst game but we defi nitely did really well tonight.”
have stuff to work on, but it’s nice
Wednesday also marked the
to get that fi rst win out of the way.” varsity debut for freshman guard
In the fi rst game of the night, Jazyln Romero, who led Herm-
Eastern Or-
egon quar-
terback Zach
Bartlow scans
the fi eld while
evading the
Knights’ rush
in a 17-0 win
over Marian in
the NAIA FCS
quarterfi nals
on Saturday,
Nov. 26, in
Indianapolis.
Photo courtesy of
Marian University
Athletics
42
Eastern
sweeping
through
pool play
No. 6 Mountaineers 2-0
at NAIA championships
HERMISTON
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
College Volleyball
60
iston with 14 points and sank
4-7 from 3-point range to leave
Bulldog fans excited for what may
come over the next four years.
“I was extremely pleased with
Jazlyn, fi rst varsity game and
coming into a big atmosphere,”
Rodriguez said. “She hit a lot of
shots and big shots at some timely
points ... she kind of carried us
there for a while.”
Also hitting the double-digit
scoring mark for Hermiston was
Hayden Meyers and Maddy Juul,
who each turned in 10-point
performances. Hermiston snagged
the lead early in the game at 4-2
See DAWGS/3B
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The No.
6 Eastern Oregon volleyball team
remained perfect in pool play at
the NAIA National Championships
with another sweep on Wednesday.
The Mountaineers notched their
30th win of the season by beating
No. 24 Montana Tech 25-21, 25-22,
25-13 at Tyson Events Center.
That came after the Mountaineers
opened pool play on Tuesday with a
28-26, 25-17,
25-20 sweep
of
Coastal
Georgia to put
EOU at the
top of Pool
F with one
more
match
left before the
top 16 teams
(two from each
Lindburg
pool) advance
to bracket play.
S e n i o r
hitter Makayla
Lindburg and
junior outside
hitter Amanda
Miller
have
been leading
the way at the
net and have
Miller
combined for
52 kills in the
two matches. They each had 12
against Montana Tech and Lind-
burg opened with a double-double
(15 kills, 11 digs) against Coastal
Georgia.
Senior setter Rachelle Cham-
berlain brought her assists total to
77 with 34 against the Orediggers
to help EOU remain the only
undefeated team in their pool and
one of six teams to make it through
the early round of games at 2-0. Six
more had a chance to do it in the
late games.
The Orediggers had chances to
force a different outcome late in
each of the fi rst two sets Wednesday
before EOU took over in the third.
The Mountaineers (30-2) used
a 13-6 run to take a 17-10 lead in
the fi rst set after two straight kills
by junior middle hitter Kasaundra
Tuma (seven kills, four block
assists), but couldn’t keep the
momentum as Montana Tech
(24-10) fought back to within 23-20.
An attacking error by Montana Tech
brought up match-point, though,
See EOU VOLLEYBALL/2B
College Football
EOU hopes to keep writing history
Mountaineers in
semifi nals for fi rst time
East Oregonian
LA GRANDE — The Eastern
Oregon Mountaineers football
team penned another chapter of its
historic 2016 season last weekend
by knocking off the No. 1 ranked
Marian Tigers in the NAIA Football
Championship Series quarterfi nals.
The Mountaineers pulled off the
road upset behind a defense that has
been wreaking havoc on opposing
offenses all season long, holding
Marian scoreless for the fi rst time
in the program’s 10-year history.
The win improved EOU to 4-1 over
top-10 opponents this season.
“We did have a really good game
plan and the players played extremely
hard,” EOU coach Tim Camp told
EOUSports.com on Tuesday. “And
to get the defensive stops we did was
huge, our special teams came up big,
and the offense played a smart game.”
The No. 9 seed Mountaineers
now sit one win away from a trip
See EOU FOOTBALL/2B
Sports shorts
Owners, players agree on new
CBA to avoid work stoppage
IRVING, Texas (AP) — Baseball players
and owners reached a tentative agreement on
a fi ve-year labor contract Wednesday night, a
deal that extends the sport’s industrial peace to
26 years since the ruinous fi ghts
in the fi rst two decades of free
agency.
After days of near round-the-
clock talks, negotiators reached
a verbal agreement about 3 1/2 hours before the
expiration of the current pact. Then they worked
to draft a memorandum of understanding,
which must be ratifi ed by both sides.
As part of the deal, the luxury tax threshold
rises from $189 million to $195 million next
year, $197 million in 2018, $206 million in
2019, $209 million in 2020 and $210 million in
2021, a person familiar with the agreement told
The Associated Press.
“I have not spoken
to anybody at
Oregon except for
Mark Helfrich. I love
everybody associated
with the university,
they were fantastic. But
my thoughts are with
(Helfrich) right now.“
— Chip Kelly
San Francisco 49ers head coach
and former Oregon coach when
asked about a possible return
to Eugene. Kelly said he has no
interest in the job, and when
asked if he was still happy in San
Francisco simply offered, “Yep.”
Oregon hires fi rm to help in
search for next football coach
EUGENE (AP) — It has been 40 years
since Oregon fi red a head coach. That was
also the last time the Ducks
went outside the program to fi ll
the spot.
Now Oregon is again
looking beyond its current
staff following the dismissal of
coach Mark Helfrich.
Athletic director Rob Mullens told
players that he would be hitting the road on
Wednesday and moving quickly to make a
hire. Oregon has hired an executive search
fi rm to aid in the process.
Among the possible candidates being
mentioned for the Oregon job are Western
Michigan’s P.J. Fleck and Boise State’s
Bryan Harsin, as well as Florida’s Jim
McElwain and Penn State’s James Franklin.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1973 — Jack Nicklaus
wins the Disney World Open
to become the fi rst profes-
sional golfer to surpass $2
million in career earnings.
1990 — Ty Detmer of
Brigham Young wins the
Heisman Trophy. Detmer,
who had set or tied 25
NCAA passing and total
offense records, becomes the
fi rst BYU winner and third
consecutive junior winner.
2000 — Indiana holds
Vancouver scoreless in
overtime for a 86-76 victory.
It’s the eighth time in NBA
history that a team fails to
score in an overtime period.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com