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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 2016)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Tuesday, December 13, 2016 NBA Trail Blazers fall short against Clippers By STEVE DILBECK Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Blake Griffin had 26 points and 12 rebounds, Chris Paul had 21 points and 14 assists, and the Los Angeles Clippers held off the Portland Trail Blazers 121-120 Monday night to sweep the three-game season series. J.J. Redick finished with 19 points, hitting all eight of his free throws — including three in the closing seconds to push Los Angeles’ lead to four points. Portland’s Damian Lillard hit a 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left for the final margin. C.J. McCollum had 25 points and Lillard finished with 24 points and eight assists for the Trail Blazers, who lost their fourth straight. The game got testy in the final minutes. Portland center Mason Plumlee was given a flagrant foul for elbowing Griffin in the face on layup. With 11 seconds left, Port- land forward Evan Turner and Los Angeles center DeAndre Jordan were ejected after a brief skirmish under the Clippers’ basket. Portland trailed 89-86 to start the fourth quarter and took the lead 1 1/2 minutes in on a free throw by AP Photo/Chris Carlson LA Clippers guard J.J. Redick, center, drives to the basket between Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum, left, and forward Al-Fa- rouq Aminu during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles, Monday, Dec. 12, 2016. Ed Davis and two jumpers by Evan Turner. However, the Clippers scored the next seven points on two free throws by Crawford and a layup and 3-pointer by Marreese Speights to take a 96-91 lead with about 9 1/2 minutes to go. The Blazers answered with a 10-0 run, including four points each by Allen Crabbe and Mason Plumlee and the game was close the rest of the way. The third quarter was another back-and-forth affair, both teams taking turns blowing with modest leads until the Clippers finally took a three-point lead into the final Los Angeles Portland 121 120 period. The Clippers acted like they were going to dominate early, jumping out to a 38-27 lead at the end of the first quarter. They connected on 14 of 22 field goals (63.6 percent), came up with four blocked shots and outscored Portland 14-4 to close the quarter. But Portland charged back in the second, opening with a 13-2 run and then just kept rolling. The Blazers outscored the Clippers 33-18 in the second quarter to take a 60-56 lead at the half. The Blazers outrebounded the Clippers 12-6 in the second quarter and found their range from outside, connecting on 14 of 20 shots (70 percent). Griffin scored all but seven of the Clippers’ 18 points in the period. UP NEXT Trail Blazers: Host Oklahoma City on Tuesday night. Clippers: At Orlando on Wednesday night. PREPS: Stanfield boys win Columbia River Clash tournament Continued from 1B Girls Basketball NIXYAAWII 51, STANFIELD 26 — At Mission, the Nixyaawii Golden Eagles used a balanced scoring effort to put away the Stan- field Tigers in a non-league game on Monday night by a score of 51-26. Nixyaawii (3-0) had five scorers with at least eight points in the game, and freshman Tristalynn Melton led all scorers with 11 points off the bench. Coach Jeremy Maddern said that the balance came from an increased focus in ball movement. “We’ve talked about sharing the ball more and trying for more assists,” he said. “It was a priority tonight and we were able to do it well. We also were able to rotate deep into the bench and my younger girls played really well.” Kendra Hart had nine points to lead Stanfield (0-6). Next up for Nixyaawii is a road game on Friday in Wallowa to start Old Oregon League play at 6 p.m. and for Stanfield, the Tigers will host Nyssa at 5 p.m. for the start of the Stanfield Tournament. From Saturday STANFIELD 70, UMATILLA 59 — At Umatilla, the Stanfield Tigers overcame a slow first quarter and a valiant effort by the Umatilla Vikings to win the Columbia River Clash boys tournament champion- ship 70-59 on Saturday night. Ryan Bailey led Stanfield (3-1) with 21 points and Jose Garcia added 11 points. Grogan scored 13 points for Stanfield, all of which came in the second half. For Umatilla (3-2), Sebastian Garcia and Seth Cranston both scored 12 points each to lead the team, while Tyrone Morris scored nine and Kaden Webb had seven. Stanfield next heads to Nixyaawii on Monday night for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off and Umatilla will head to Union on Thursday to take part in the Union Holiday Tournament. The Vikings will first face off against Jordan Valley Thursday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. PILOT ROCK 51, UNION 36 — At Umatilla, the Pilot Rock Rockets took home the third place prize from the Columbia River Clash tournament with a 51-36 win over Union on Saturday evening. Bryson Pierce led all scorers with 18 points for Pilot Rock (5-1) and Chris Weinke scored 15 points. Pilot Rock forced 29 Union turnovers in the game, which coach Mike Weinke said was a big factor throughout the game as Union could never make a run at the Rockets. Pilot Rock returns to the court on Friday night for its tournament, where they will face off first against Mac-Hi at 7:30 p.m. GIRLS: Head to Hillsboro on Saturday Continued from 1B Staff photo by Kathy Aney Maddy Juul (20), of Hermiston, goes up for a shot under pressure as Kamiakin’s OumouToure (24) tries to block during Saturday’s non-conference game in Hermiston. DAWGS: Continued from 1B Saturday, as the defense forced seven Brave turnovers and Hermiston shot 6-10 from the floor to take a 20-10 lead on Kamiakin. But over the next two quarters, Herm- iston’s offense went cold and the Braves began to figure out the defense as Kamiakin outscored Hermiston 24-19 over the next two quarters. “The kids played hard the whole game, but I think we got a little sluggish in our motion offense and not picking our spots,” Arstein said. “We got a little impa- tient, playing not to lose instead of continuing to play to win. The little mistakes add up to bigger mistakes, and now we just have to fix those.” The Bulldogs defense also got a bit too aggressive in the second half, totaling 16 team fouls which resulted in a whopping 26 free throw attempts in the second half alone for Kamiakin, who was successful on 17 of those attempts. “I felt like most the second half we were just watchin them shoot free throws,” Arstein said. “We were sending them to the line too much, being too aggressive with our hands. We bailed them out a lot in the second half and we have to get better at picking our spots and playing smarter defense with our feet instead of our hands.” Kamiakin (1-0) took tage after one full. But that’s when Kamiakin started showing that it was the better team. The Braves (4-0) took the lead at 13-11 with just over six minutes left in the second quarter on a 3-point play by Oumou Toure and then stayed in front for the remainder of the game. Hermiston tallied just seven points in the second quarter, and also played out a six minute drought between made field goals. But just as Rodriguez said, the Bulldogs never hung their heads throughout the rest of the game. The team worked into plenty of good looks at the basket, registering 55 shot attempts but again struggled with the execu- tion as they sank just 16 of those. But what pleased Rodriguez was the 17 offensive rebounds that his team grabbed in the game. “That’s the hustle plays that are hard to teach,” he said. “We’re missing little lay-ins that’ll start going in at some point, but the girls are working towards those offensive boards and that’s what I’m happy about. They did a good job of competing and even- tually that’ll pay off.” Maddy Juul and Rileigh Andreason each scored nine points to lead Hermiston’s offense, and Jordan Thomas pitched in eight points for Hermiston. Andreason scored Hermiston’s first 3-pointer of the game with 6:30 left in the game, and the Bulldogs were just 2-14 from there overall. Oumou Toure led Kamiakin with a game-high 23 points and Kylie Larson added 10 for the Braves. Hermiston now gets a full week of practice in before its next game, when it will travel to Hillsboro for a 5 p.m. start on Saturday. ————— KHS 7 18 15 19 — 59 HHS 9 7 8 16 — 40 KAMIAKIN — O. Toure 23, K. Larson 11, K Hollie 4, R. Clark 4, C. Williams 4, S. Brown 2. HERMISTON — M. Juul 9, R. Andreason 9, J. Thomas 8, K. Padilla 5, H. Meyers 5, J. Romero 4. 3-pointers — KHS 3, HHS 2. Free throws — KHS 8-10, HHS 6-12. Fouls — KHS 13, HHS 9. Women’s College Basketball Ducks breeze by Tigers Oregon women in Top 25 for first time since 2003 Associated Press CLEMSON, S.C. — Freshman Sabrina Ionescu had her second-career triple-double, Oti Gildon tied a career best with 16 points, on 7-of-11 shooting, and No. 25 Oregon beat Clemson 87-59 on Monday night. Ionescu hit 5 of 7 from 3-point range and finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Ruthy Hebard made 7 of 9 shots, scored 15 NCAA points and grabbed n i n e rebounds, Oregon M a i t e Cazorla added 14 p o i n t s and Lexi B a n d o Clemson scored 10 for the Ducks. Ionescu had Oregon’s first triple- double since 1988 in an 86-49 win over Hawaii on Nov. 26. Ionescu hit two 3s and Cazorla scored five points during an 11-3 run that made it 52-38 with 4:53 left in the third quarter and Oregon (8-1) led by double figures the rest of the way. Gildon had layups on three-consecutive posses- sions to make it 73-48 and a layup by Justine Hall gave the Ducks their biggest lead of the game, 79-49, with 3:23 to go. Jaia Alexander and Nelly Perry scored 13 points apiece for Clemson (8-1). Oregon made 33 of 63 from the field, including 9 of 16 (56 percent) from 3-point range, and 12-of-14 free throws. Clemson shot 38 percent overall and 27 percent (4 of 15) from 3-point range. The Ducks are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 2003. UP NEXT The Ducks continue their east coast road trip with a game at Mississippi on Wednesday afternoon. The game is set to tip-off at 4 p.m. 87 59 SCOREBOARD it’s first lead of the game at 42-39 with 4:45 left in the game, but it didn’t last long. On Hermiston’s next posses- sion, Cesar Ortiz drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing to tie the game back at 42-all with four minutes to play. However, Kamiakin took the lead back just a short time later and this time didn’t relinquish it. Garrett Paxton was a big part of Kamiakin’s second-half surge, scoring 16 of his game-high 18 points in the latter half of the game. For Hermiston, Andrew James led the team in scoring with 13 points, while Chance Flores and Jordan Ramirez each scored 11 points. Eight of Flores’ points came within the first three minutes of the game when he scored eight of the team’s first 10 points. Altogether, Hermiston shot 35 percent (17-49) from the floor in the game and just 5-21 (24 percent) from 3-point range. Hermiston next hits the road for a game at St. Helens on Tuesday with a 7:15 p.m. tip-off. ————— KHS 10 10 14 24 — 58 HHS 20 10 9 12 — 51 KAMIAKIN — G. Paxton 18, I. Brimmer 12, C. Grayson 7, K. Bailey 6, S. Wolf 6, C. Green 3, P. Flynn 3, J. Nichols 2. HERMISTON — A. James 13, C. Flores 11, J. Ramirez 11, X. Rambo 9, T. Mc- Cullough 4, C. Ortiz 3. 3-pointers — KHS 1, HHS 5. Free throws — HHS 12-18, KHS 22-34. Fouls — KHS 20, HHS 26. Fouled out — X. Rambo, C. Flores, A. James (HHS). ————— Contact Eric at esinger@ eastoregonian.com or (541) 966-0839. Follow him on Twitter @ByEricSinger. Local slate PREP BOYS BASKETBALL Tuesday’s Games Nixyaawii at Pilot Rock, 7 p.m. Hermiston at St. Helens, 7:15 p.m. Irrigon at Heppner, 7:30 p.m. Weston-McEwen at Riverside, 7:30 p.m. Mac-Hi at DeSales (WA), 7:30 p.m. Ione at Echo, 7:30 p.m. Thursday’s Games Umatilla vs. Jordan Valley (at Union Tournament), 3:30 p.m. The Dalles (JV) at Arlington, 7 p.m. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL Tuesday’s Games Weston-McEwen at Riverside, 6 p.m. Irrigon at Heppner, 6 p.m. Mac-Hi at DeSales (WA), 6 p.m. Ione at Echo, 6 p.m. Nixyaawii at Pilot Rock, 7 p.m. Thursday’s Games Umatilla vs. Jordan Valley (at Union Tournament), 2 p.m. The Dalles (JV) at Arlington, 5 p.m. Pendleton at Wilsonville, 7 p.m. PREP WRESTLING Thursday Pendleton at Liberty, 6 p.m. Friday Hermiston at North Idaho College (Tri- State Tournament), TBD Echo at Dobbs (ID) Invitational, 3 p.m. Pendleton at Banks, TBD PREP SWIMMING Saturday Pendleton, Hermiston at La Grande, Noon Pendleton (selects) at Bend, 1 p.m. COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL Friday Corban at Eastern Oregon, 7:30 p.m. Skagit Valley at Blue Mountain, 8 p.m. COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Friday Corban at Eastern Oregon, 5:30 p.m. Blue Mountain vs. Grays Harbor (at Salem), 5:30 p.m. COLLEGE MEN’S WRESTLING Sunday Eastern Oregon at Reno (Nev.) Tourna- ment of Champions, TBA COLLEGE WOMEN’S WRESTLING Saturday-Sunday Eastern Oregon at West Coast Tourna- ment of Champions (at Rocklin, Calif.), TBD Football NFL AMERICAN CONFERENCE East W L T Pct PF New England 11 2 0 .846 349 Miami 8 5 0 .615 281 Buffalo 6 7 0 .462 325 N.Y. Jets 4 9 0 .308 229 South W L T Pct PF PA 230 301 301 324 PA Houston Tennessee Indianapolis Jacksonville North Pittsburgh Baltimore Cincinnati Cleveland West 7 6 7 6 6 7 2 11 0 .538 229 0 .538 321 0 .462 328 0 .154 240 274 306 333 338 W L 8 5 7 6 5 7 0 13 T Pct PF 0 .615 317 0 .538 279 1 .423 268 0 .000 207 PA 256 237 269 375 W L T Pct PF PA Kansas City 10 3 0 .769 302 255 Oakland 10 3 0 .769 358 320 Denver 8 5 0 .615 296 242 San Diego 5 8 0 .385 350 347 NATIONAL CONFERENCE East W L T Pct PF PA x-Dallas 11 2 0 .846 340 238 N.Y. Giants 9 4 0 .692 255 244 Washington 7 5 1 .577 330 317 Philadelphia 5 8 0 .385 290 272 South W L T Pct PF PA Atlanta 8 5 0 .615 428 345 Tampa Bay 8 5 0 .615 293 296 New Orleans 5 8 0 .385 358 351 Carolina 5 8 0 .385 311 337 North W L T Pct PF PA Detroit 9 4 0 .692 295 268 Green Bay 7 6 0 .538 333 312 Minnesota 7 6 0 .538 258 225 Chicago 3 10 0 .231 221 290 West W L T Pct PF PA Seattle 8 4 1 .654 274 232 Arizona 5 7 1 .423 299 277 Los Angeles 4 9 0 .308 194 304 San Francisco 1 12 0 .077 251 393 x-clinched playoff spot ——— Week 14 Kansas City 21, Oakland 13 Cincinnati 23, Cleveland 10 Detroit 20, Chicago 17 Tennessee 13, Denver 10 Pittsburgh 27, Buffalo 20 Washington 27, Philadelphia 22 Minnesota 25, Jacksonville 16 Houston 22, Indianapolis 17 Carolina 28, San Diego 16 Miami 26, Arizona 23 Tampa Bay 16, New Orleans 11 N.Y. Jets 23, San Francisco 17, OT Green Bay 38, Seattle 10 Atlanta 42, Los Angeles 14 N.Y. Giants 10, Dallas 7 New England 30, Baltimore 23 Week 15 Thursday’s Game Los Angeles at Seattle, 8:25 p.m. NCAA Bowl Game Lineup Saturday, Dec. 17 Celebration Bowl At Atlanta NC Central (9-2) vs. Grambling State (11-1), 9 a.m. (ABC) New Mexico Bowl Albuquerque UTSA (6-6) vs. New Mexico (8-4), 11 a.m. (ESPN) Las Vegas Bowl San Diego State (10-3) vs. Houston (9-3), 12:30 p.m. (ABC) Camellia Bowl Montgomery, Ala. Toledo (9-3) vs. Appalachian State (9-3), 2:30 p.m. (ESPN) Cure Bowl Orlando, Fla. UCF (6-6) vs. Arkansas State (7-5), 2:30 p.m. (CBSSN) New Orleans Bowl Southern Miss. (6-6) vs. Louisiana-Lafay- ette (6-6), 6 p.m. (ESPN) FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals No. 4 James Madison 65, No. 5 Sam Houston State 7 No. 1 North Dakota State 36, No. 8 South Dakota State 10 Youngstown State 30, Wofford 23 No. 2 Eastern Washington 38, Richmond 0 Semifinals Friday No. 4 James Madison at No. 1 North Dakota State, 4 p.m. (ESPN2) Saturday Youngstown State at No. 2 Eastern Washington, 3:30 p.m. (ESPNU) NAIA Championship Saturday At Municipal Stadium Daytona Beach, Fla. Saint Francis (Ind.) (11-2) vs. Baker (Kan.) (14-0), 3 p.m. Basketball NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division W L Pct Toronto 17 7 .708 New York 14 10 .583 Boston 13 11 .542 Brooklyn 6 17 .261 Philadelphia 6 18 .250 Southeast Division W L Pct Charlotte 14 11 .560 Atlanta 12 12 .500 Orlando 10 15 .400 Washington 9 14 .391 Miami 8 17 .320 Central Division W L Pct Cleveland 17 5 .773 Chicago 13 10 .565 Indiana 13 12 .520 Detroit 13 13 .500 Milwaukee 11 12 .478 WESTERN CONFERENCE Southwest Division W L Pct San Antonio 19 5 .792 Houston 18 7 .720 Memphis 17 8 .680 New Orleans 8 17 .320 Dallas 6 18 .250 Northwest Division W L Pct Oklahoma City 15 9 .625 Utah 15 10 .600 Portland 12 14 .462 Denver 9 16 .360 GB — 3 4 10½ 11 GB — 1½ 4 4 6 GB — 4½ 5½ 6 6½ GB — 1½ 2½ 11½ 13 GB — ½ 4 6½ Minnesota Pacific Division 6 18 .250 9 W L Pct GB Golden State 21 4 .840 — L.A. Clippers 18 7 .720 3 Sacramento 9 15 .375 11½ L.A. Lakers 10 167 .370 12 Phoenix 7 17 .292 13½ Sunday’s Games Philadelphia 97, Detroit 79 Golden State 116, Minnesota 108 Oklahoma City 99, Boston 96 New Orleans 120, Phoenix 119, OT New York 118, L.A. Lakers 112 Monday’s Games Indiana 110, Charlotte 94 Miami 112, Washington 101 Toronto 122, Milwaukee 100 Houston 122, Brooklyn 118 Dallas 112, Denver 92 Sacramento 116, L.A. Lakers 92 L.A. Clippers 121, Portland 120 Tuesday’s Games Memphis at Cleveland, 4 p.m. Orlando at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. Golden State at New Orleans, 5 p.m. Minnesota at Chicago, 5 p.m. New York at Phoenix, 6 p.m. Oklahoma City at Portland, 7:30 p.m. NCAA Men’s Top 25 Monday’s Game Seton Hall 67, No. 16 South Carolina 64 Tuesday’s Games Temple at No. 1 Villanova, 4 p.m. (FS1) Texas Southern at No. 25 Cincinnati, 4 p.m. Montana at No. 22 Oregon, 7 p.m. (PAC12) Women’s Top 25 Monday’s Games No. 25 Oregon 87, Clemson 59 No. 4 Maryland 79, Loyola (Md.) 60 Today’s Games No. 5 Mississippi State at Arkansas-Little Rock, 4:30 p.m. No. 23 Arizona State at Middle Tennes- see State, 4:30 p.m. Hockey NHL Sunday’s Games Anaheim 5, Ottawa 1 Philadelphia 1, Detroit 0, OT Washington 3, Vancouver 0 Minnesota 3, St. Louis 1 Colorado 3, Toronto 1 N.Y. Rangers 5, New Jersey 0 Chicago 3, Dallas 1 Edmonton 3, Winnipeg 2 Monday’s Games Pittsburgh 7, Arizona 0 Boston 2, Montreal 1, OT Tuesday’s Games Los Angeles at Buffalo, 4 p.m. Washington at N.Y. Islanders, 4 p.m. Vancouver at Carolina, 4 p.m. Chicago at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. Arizona at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. San Jose at Toronto, 4:30 p.m. St. Louis at Nashville, 5 p.m. Florida at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Anaheim at Dallas, 5:30 p.m. Columbus at Edmonton, 6 p.m.
