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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2016)
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14 , 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Prep Roundup Bulldogs rebound with big win on the road Boys Hoops Rambo scores 25 to lead Hermiston over St. Helens East Oregonian ST. HELENS — The Hermiston Bulldogs rebounded from their fi rst loss of the season in a big way Tuesday night, defeating St. Helens 84-68 on the road. But Hermiston (6-1) coach Casey Arstein wasn’t fully satisfi ed with the performance. “I’m happy we scored 84 points, but we’re disap- pointed as a defense in giving up the 68 points,” he said after the game. “But now we have a couple days to work on some stuff before Saturday.” Senior guard Xavier Rambo had a season-high 25 points for Hermiston, as Arstein said Rambo was “in attack mode” for most of the night. “Once we handled their press and were able to start running he (Rambo) settled in,” Arstein said. “He did hit Hermiston St. Helens 84 68 two 3-pointers, but for the most part was just driving the basket and getting some good looks in close.” Andrew James also pitched in 14 points and fi ve assists for the Bulldogs, who will now prepare for Saturday’s non-league contest against Hillsboro at the Dawghouse. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. performance on Tuesday night, this time against their former league rival Irrigon as the Mustangs rolled 52-38 over the Knights. “To hold a team of that caliber to 38 points, I’m very pleased with the defensive effort tonight,” Heppner coach Jeremy Rosenbalm said. “We knew we needed to bring a whole new inten- See PREPS/2B HEPPNER 52, IRRIGON 38 — At Heppner, the Heppner Mustangs put together another strong defensive Prep Football NBA Grogan, Murray lead all-state Lillard’s 17 carries Blazers past Thunder Stanfi eld, Heppner seniors earn Player of the Year honors By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian The Class 2A all-state football teams were released this week, and both the Stanfi eld Tigers and Heppner Mustangs were well-represented. The Tigers and Mustangs fi lled up a total of 14 spots with eight different players between the fi rst and second all-state team rosters, with Stanfi eld having a class-best nine overall and seven fi rst-team spots. Heppner had four fi rst team selections and one second team spot. On top of that, Stanfi eld and Heppner also saw two of their own honored individually, as Stanfi eld senior quarterback Dylan Grogan and Heppner senior linebacker Kevin Murray were voted as Co-Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year respectively. Grogan earned the honor alongside Kennedy senior running back Bishop Mitchell, and Murray shared the honor with Regis linebacker Eric Gustin. Grogan played in 12 games or Stanfi eld this season and put together 1,503 passing yards and nine touchdowns as well as 1,056 rushing yards and 14 touch- downs. In four playoff games, Grogan threw for 502 yards and three scores and also ran for 396 yards and six touchdowns. Grogan also earned second team honors at linebacker, where he was a key part of the Stanfi eld defense that allowed 18.7 points per game this season. Portland snaps four game losing streak By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press PORTLAND — Damian Lillard had 17 points and nine assists before sitting out the fourth quarter and the Portland Trail Blazers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 114-95 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night. Russell Okla. City We s t b r o o k was off his league-leading average of 31.1 points a game with 20 for the Portland Thunder, who have lost two of their last three after a six-game winning streak. Mason Plumlee added 18 points for the Blazers, who led by 26 points in Portland’s fi rst game back after a 1-4 road trip. Six Portland players fi nished in double fi gures in the second of a back-to-back. Portland was coming off a 121-120 loss at the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night to extend the season’s longest losing streak. The Thunder were without Victor Oladipo because of a right wrist sprain, forcing Oklahoma 95 EO fi le photo Stanfi eld senior Dylan Grogan was voted this week as the Class 2A Co-Offensive Player of the Year and is one of four Tigers on the fi rst team all-state roster. Heppner’s Kevin Murray, picutred here at a 2016 preseason practice, was voted as a Class 2A Co-De- fensive Player of the Year this week. Murray led the young Heppner defense from his middle linebacker spot this season, registering a team-high 111 total tackles and nine tackles- for-loss. The 6-1, 190-pounder also earned fi rst team honors at offensive line this season as Murray paved the way from his guard position for an offense that averaged 195.4 rushing yards per game and 48 total touchdowns this season. It marks the second straight year he has double-dipped the all-state team after garnering fi rst team honors at offensive line and defensive line in 2015. Joining Grogan in the fi rst See ALL-STATE/2B Men’s College Basketball EO File Photo 114 See BLAZERS/2B Boucher, Oregon fi ght off Montana Senior forward nets double-double By RON RICHMOND Associated Press AP Photo/Chris Pietsch Oregon’s Keith Smith, right, steals the ball from Montana’s Ah- maad Rorie, left, during the fi rst half of an Tuesday’s game in Eugene. EUGENE — Chris Boucher met the news that he had come within one rebound of being Oregon’s fi rst 20-20 man in 40 seasons with his signature shrug. “It didn’t matter if I got 20,” he said. “I was just doing my job.” Boucher had 23 points and a career-high 19 rebounds to lead No. 22 Oregon to an 81-67 victory over Montana #22 Oregon 67 81 Montana on Tuesday night. Dylan Ennis added 22 points for the Ducks (9-2), who won their seventh straight and extended the nation’s third-longest home winning streak to 32 games. Payton Pritchard had 12 points. But the night belonged to Boucher. The last Duck to have at least 20 points and 20 rebounds was the late Greg Ballard in a fi ve-over- time game against California in 1977. “Chris absolutely saved us,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “His 19 rebounds were the differ- ence in the game. “His activity increases so much when he’s around the basket and rebounds. I couldn’t take him off the fl oor because I wasn’t sure we’d get a rebound if he wasn’t out there.” Oregon took control of the game with a 9-0 run midway through the second half for its fi rst double-digit lead. The Ducks shot 51.7 percent (30 of 58) for the game but struggled at the free throw line, hitting just 15 See OREGON/2B Sports shorts Tobin Heath voted U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year CHICAGO (AP) — Tobin Heath has been voted the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Female Player of the Year. The USSF also announced Tuesday that Ashley Sanchez was voted the Young Female Player of the Year. Heath had a career-high six goals and eight assists in 22 games with the U.S. women this season, including two assists in the Heath Olympics. The 28-year-old midfi elder also had 10 assists in just 14 appearances for the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League. The mark was a league record. Heath captured 40 percent of the vote, followed by Crystal Dunn with 34 percent. Sanchez earned 47 percent of the vote. “It’s hypocritical, as I’ve stated before. They make this huge stance about player safety. Then you put the players in tremendous danger. We’ll be well-aware come the next CBA negotiations about things like this.“ — Richard Sherman The Seattle cornerback speaking on his frustration with the NFL’s Thursday night games. Seattle has a quick turnaround this week, and will kick-off against L.A. just 64 hours after the team landed back in Seattle on Monday night. New CBA bans rookie hazing NEW YORK (AP) — That baseball hazing ritual of dressing up rookies as Wonder Woman, Hooters Girls and Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders is now banned. MLB created an Anti-Hazing and Anti-Bullying Policy that covers the practice. As part of the sport’s new labor deal, which was ratifi ed yesterday, the players’ union agreed not to contest it. The policy prohibits “requiring, coercing or encouraging” players from “dressing up as women or wearing costumes that may be offensive to individuals based on their race, sex, nationality, age, sexual orientation, gender identify or other characteristic.” MLB Vice President Paul Misfud said Monday the new rules resulted partly “in light of social media ... those kind of things which in our view were insensitive and potentially offensive to a number of groups.” THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1975 — Los Angeles Lakers center Kareem Abdul- Jabbar grabs an NBA-record 29 defensive rebounds in a 110-100 victory over Detroit. 1991 — Desmond Howard, the nation’s second-leading scorer with 23 TDs, wins the Heisman Trophy by the second-biggest margin in history. The Michigan receiver beats runner-up Casey Weldon of Florida State by 1,574 points. 2008 — The Oakland Raiders becomes the fi rst team to lose at least 11 games in six straight seasons after their 49-26 loss to New England. 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