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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2016)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Wednesday, December 21, 2016 BRIEFLY Men’s College Basketball Bell adding more offense to reputation Oregon for- ward Jordan Bell reacts after mak- ing a basket against UNLV during the first half of an NCAA college bas- ketball game in Port- land on Sat- urday, Dec. 17, 2016. Oregon junior now more than just a defensive specialist By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press Jordan Bell is expanding his game by keeping it simple. Known for his defense, the junior forward for No. 20 Oregon is becoming more multidimen- sional. It was on display this past weekend against UNLV when he had a career-high 16 points and a season-high 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. The Ducks defeated the Rebels 83-63. Oregon (10-2) hosts Fresno State on Tuesday night for the team’s final nonconference game before the start of the Pac-12 season. The Ducks will be chal- lenged at the start of league play at home by No. 2 UCLA on Dec. 28. Bell is averaging 9.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, both career highs, along with 2.5 blocks. He’s been in double-figures in points five times this season. And he’s playing more minutes. “I think I am getting into a groove now, things are coming easier for me now and I am keeping it simpler,” Bell said. “Last year, I figured out what to do when I came in. This year I have a set role of what to do so I can just focus on rebounding, defense and blocking shots.” Last season, when Oregon went to the Elite Eight as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the AP Photo/ Craig Mitch- elldyer first time ever, the 6-foot-9 Bell averaged seven points and 5.4 rebounds. “He is almost a reluctant scorer in there. He doesn’t demand the ball and doesn’t post up a lot. He has never been a great scorer in high school or AAU, he has always kind of been a defender, rebounder and facilitator,” coach Dana Altman said. “Now in his third year, you expect that to be part of the growth, to take a more aggressive position on offense and try to score.” A native of Los Angeles, Bell worked his way into the starting lineup early in his freshman season and finished with a conference-leading average of 2.69 blocks per game. His 94 total blocks gave him the single-season record for the Ducks. As a sophomore last season, he topped Oregon’s career block list. He drew attention in the Ducks’ Sweet 16 win over Duke with 13 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals. “When I first came here, we had Joe (Young),” Bell said. “He took care of the scoring. Every year, I’ve try to expand my role and see what I need to do exactly. This year, we don’t really have an inside post player, so I’m really focused on that.” Bell emerged this weekend against the Rebels in the absence of senior forward Chris Boucher, who was on crutches and wearing a boot on his right foot on the Ducks’ bench. Altman said Boucher sprained his ankle in practice and X-rays were negative. Boucher won’t play against Fresno State and instead will heal up for Pac-12 season. The 6-foot-10 Boucher is aver- aging 14.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game for Oregon this season. He ranks 10th nationally in blocks. Boucher played in Oregon’s 81-67 victory at home over Montana last Tuesday night, scoring 23 points with 19 rebounds. He was a rebound short of becoming the Ducks’ first player since 1977 with 20 or more points and rebounds. Bell says he’s willing to step up whenever — and however — he’s needed. Against UNLV, he was 7 of 8 from the field, including four left-handed layups. “I’m actually left-handed,” he shrugged. “For some reason, I don’t go to it. I don’t know why.” LeBron moves into 8th on NBA scoring list MILWAUKEE (AP) — LeBron James buried a go-ahead 3-pointer with 24 seconds left in overtime and the Cleveland Cavaliers held on for a 114-108 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night to avenge a late November loss James moved past Moses Malone (27,409 points) into eighth place on the NBA career scoring list with his first basket of the game. Next up is Shaquille O’Neal with 28,956 points. Earlier this season, James passed Hakeem Olajuwon and Elvin Hayes. Jagr now tied for 2nd on NHL points list SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Jaromir Jagr isn’t even thinking about retiring. Jagr had three assists to pull into a tie for second place on the NHL’s career points list, Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck scored in the shootout, and the Florida Panthers beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Tuesday night. Jagr pulled even with Mark Messier with 1,887 points, trailing only Wayne Gretzky (2,857). Jagr received a long ovation from the fans after tying Messier and acknowledged the crowd. “When I retire, I’ll look back at what I did, maybe I’m going to think about it a little more, but right now I just enjoy every moment I get a chance to play in this league,” the 44-year-old Jagr said. “I love it so much.” BUCKS: Tuesday was team’s first game in two weeks Continued from 1B “She played great defense,” Mayhue said of Greb. “I mean, it was frustrating at some points, but at the same time you just have to take a step back and just let the game come to you.” It wasn’t until a trip to the charity stripe with 24 seconds left that Mayhue was able to escape Greb’s persistent pursuit and notch her first points of the second half. Meanwhile, Greb and junior post Kalan McGlothan paced a 21-4 quarter-spanning run for the Bucks that gave them their first lead since the game’s opening minutes. “She (Greb) was in charge of making sure that once she (Mayhue) gave up the ball she didn’t get it back,” Porter said. “She worked her tail off the entire game. Number 3’s a hell of a player. What do you say?” After McGlothan gave them the lead with just over four minutes to play, a pair of free throws by junior Lauren Richards put Pendleton up 50-47 with nine seconds left in the fourth quarter. But South Albany senior Rachel DeVyldere was able to get the ball down the floor and over to Mayhue with just enough time for a hurried shot that glanced high off the glass and in. McGlothan recorded her fourth straight double-double to start the season and finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and scored on a putback with 2:33 left in the overtime period to give Pendleton a 52-50 lead. The teams then traded free throws with a putback by South Alba- ny’s Abby Sadowsky mixed in to get to 56-all with 53 seconds left. Pendleton missed its chance to go back ahead, and South Albany was off the mark as well, but grabbed the offensive rebound with 11.9 seconds on the clock and called a timeout. The pass came in to senior Journee Schlabach out of the break, who then passed to Mayhue as she popped out of traffic and made her way to the top of the arc. Greb finished with 13 points for Pendleton, which was playing its first game in 14 days and trailed 43-29 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter. “We hadn’t played in a such a long time, it was kind of like our first game and we had to work through some things,” McGlo- than said. “The second half we were like, ‘OK we know what we’re doing.’” “It was the tale of two halves,” Porter said. “I told my girls at halftime, ‘I don’t care what the score says, if you come out and play with some heart and some passion, and you compete, I don’t care what the scoreboard says, you won’t go out of here a loser today. And that’s what they did and that’s what I told them at the end of the game. I said, ‘You found yourself, you found your passions, you found your drive.’” Senior Paige Diller added 18 points for South Albany but fouled out with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter. The Rebels’ only loss this season was 43-34 to No. 1 Crater. Pendleton is the first team to top 50 against the Rebels. Pendleton shot 40.4 percent (19 of 47) from the field including 0-for-6 from three- point range, and went 18-of-27 at the free throw line. South Albany shot just 35.6 percent (21 of 59) from the field, but was 8-of-21 (38.1 percent) from distance and 9-of-11 at the line. Next up for the Bucks is a three-day tour at the Summit Holiday Tournament which begins with a 7:45 p.m. game at Bend on Dec. 28. ——— SA 16 17 10 7 9 — 59 PHS 13 8 14 15 6 — 56 SOUTH ALBANY — K. Mayhue 27, P. Diller 18, R. DeVyldere 6, A. Sadowsky 6, G. Lawson 2. PENDLETON — K. McGlothan 17, H. Greb 13, L. Richards 6, J. Lemberger 6, M. Davies 6, K. Bradt 6, H. Porter 2, T. Fell, E. Nirschl. 3-pointers — SA 8; PHS 0. Free throws — SA 9-11; PHS 18-27. Fouls — SA 22; PHS 16. Fouled out — P. Diller (SA). Staff photo by E.J. Harris PendletonLauren Richards shoots the ball over South Albany’s Journee Schlabach in the Bucks’ 59-56 overtime loss to the Reb- els on Tuesday in Pendleton. PREPS: Zacarias nets 17 points as Irrigon girls beat Mac-Hi Continued from 1B high 32 points to lead Stanfield to a 75-67 win over the Toledo Boomers at the Toledo Tourna- ment. “Dylan was great tonight,” Stanfield coach Jason Sperr said. “He played like a post, he posted up more and worked inside to grab some offensive boards and get some putbacks and Toledo played real tough inside.” Stanfield (8-1), who now holds the No. 1 OSAA ranking for Class 2A, played without usual starters Jose Garcia and Ryan Bailey for much of the game, as Garcia did not play due to a broken bone in his hand and Bailey played limited minutes due to an illness. Garcia’s injury is one he origianlly suffered during football season, and Sperr said that it is not yet known how much time Garcia will miss, but they will know more once he sees a specialist on Thursday. Stanfield next plays Waldport today at 10:30 a.m. to round out its Toledo Tournament play. ———— SHS 20 19 17 19 — 75 THS 19 10 21 17 — 67 STANFIELD — D. Grogan 32, T. Flores 13, T. Monkus 10, J. Galarza 10, E. Angel 5, R. Bailey 3, B. Woods 2. TOLEDO — C. Marchant 20, N. Cross 18, K. Otis 10, D. Werder 5, J. Spangler 2. 3-pointers — SHS 10, THS 5. Free throws — SHS 11-16, THS 10-15. Fouls — SHS 20, THS 16. Fouled out — B. Woods (SHS). WESTERN MENNONITE 53, HEPPNER 43 — At Heppner, the Heppner Mustangs had its four game win streak snapped with a hard fought battle against the Western Mennonite Pioneers 53-43 on Tuesday afternoon in Heppner. “This was a very good preseason test for us,” Heppner coach Jeremy Rosenbalm said. “(Western Mennonite) is an extremely good team and this shows us what we need to work on and do to reach our goals.” Logan Grieb scored a game- high 19 points to lead Heppner (5-2) on an efficient 7-13 shooting and knocked in three 3-pointers. Western Mennonite outscored Heppner 18-8 in the first quarter, which proved to be just too big of a hole for the Mustangs to dig out of. “We did start slow, but I’m very pleased with the way we responded,” Rosenbalm said. “We just kept chipping away at the lead and our defensive effort was great again. To hold that team to 53 points and only have seven fouls, I couldn’t ask of more from my kids.” Heppner next heads to the Irrigon Invitational on Dec. 30, where it will take on Mac-Hi. ———— WM 18 13 18 4 — 53 HHS 8 11 12 12 — 43 WESTERN MENNONITE — S. Hess 10, C. Nofziger 10, P. Richardson 9, K. Hull 7, J. Williams 3, D. Berkey 3, A. Nicoli 2. HEPPNER — L. Grieb 19, J. Lindsay 7, C. Hedman 5, K. Murray 5, K. Smith 3, N. Dias Martins 3, W. Steagall 1. 3-pointers — WM 7, HHS 5. Free throws — WM 2-3, HHS 10-16. Fouls — WM 18, HHS 7. IRRIGON 45, MAC-HI 34 — At Irrigon, the short-handed Knights couldn’t make the Pioneers speed up the pace, but proved they could win a defensive battle in a non-league game on Tuesday. Irrigon (4-3) led 21-16 at half- time and took control with a 12-4 third quarter. “We were just playing sound man-to-man defense and we were able to get a few turnovers there and create some points,” said Irrigon coach Davie Salas. Johnny Philips led the way with 14 points, and Eric Carillo and Keith Fleming each added 10 for Irrigon. Alec Earls paced Mac-Hi (4-4) with seven points. Both teams will be back in action on Dec. 29 at the Irrigon Invitational. Mac-Hi plays Heppner at 1:30 p.m. and Irrigon hosts Waitsburg (WA) at 6 p.m. ——— M-H 6 10 4 14 — 34 IHS 8 13 12 12 — 45 MAC-HI — A. Earls 7, A. Delgado 6, M. Garcia 6, M. Armenta 5, A. Pio 4, A. Martinez, A. Ruiz, Z. Hodgen, J. Vela, R. Walton, Team 6. IRRIGON — J. Philips 14, K. Fleming 10, E. Carillo 10, D. Vera 5, A. Rice 2, L. Covarrubia 2, A. Gomez 2, A. Roa, O. Vera. 3-pointers — M-H 5-15; IHS 1-3. Free throws — M-H 6-10; IHS 8-11. Fouls — M-H 15; IHS 12. From Monday STANFIELD 80, WESTERN MENNONITE 77 (OT) — At Stanfield, the Tigers erased a four point deficit with one minute left in regulation, and then pulled away in overtime to defeat a very talented Western Mennonite team on Monday night 80-77 at Stan- field High School. Ryan Bailey scored 25 points to lead Stanfield (7-1), while Brody Woods finished with 15 and Dylan Grogan with 13. ———— WM 23 9 11 23 11 — 77 SHS 16 16 19 15 14 — 80 WESTERN MENNONITE — S. Hess 21, J. Williams 18, K. Hull 15, P. Richardson 12, M. Hull 6, C. Nofziger 2, I. Rush 2, A. Nicoli 1. STANFIELD — R. Bailey 25, B. Woods 15, D. Grogan 13, T. Flores 9, J. Garcia 7, T. Monkus 7, J. Galarza 4. 3-pointers — WM 3, SHS 5. Free throws — WM 24-32, SHS 22-35. Fouls — WM 25, SHS 22. Girls Basketball IRRIGON 43, MAC-HI 29 — At Irrigon, the Knights bounced back from Monday’s loss with a decisive win over Mac-Hi, beating the Pioneers 43-29 on Tuesday afternoon. Ana Zacarias led Irrigon (5-3) with a game-high 17 points, while also adding six rebounds and four steals. Jada Burns also hit double digits for Irrigon, with 11 points as well as four assists. For Mac-Hi (1-7) Brianna Hernandez had 10 points and Sydney Richwine had eight points. Irrigon next hosts Waitsburg (WA) on Dec. 29, and Mac-Hi will head back to Irrigon on Dec. 29 to take on Heppner in the Irrigon Invitational. ———— MHS 0 9 5 15 — 29 IHS 8 9 13 13 — 43 MAC-HI — B. Hernandez 10, S. Richwine 8, B. Jones 4, M. Yensen 3, S. Earls 2, B. Smiley 2. IRRIGON — A. Zacarias 17, J. Burns 11, M. Davis 4, L. Mills 3, T. Davis 2, N. Romero 2. 3-pointers — MHS 3, IHS 2. Free throws — MHS 10-23, IHS 3-11. WESTERN MENNONITE 51, HEPPNER 34 — At Heppner, the Mustangs dropped their fourth straight game with a 51-34 loss to Western Mennonite on Tuesday afternoon. Jacee Currin led Heppner (2-5) with 11 points and made Heppner’s only 3-pointer, and Madison Combe pitched in 10 points on 4-10 shooting. Heppner next travels to Irrigon to take on Mac-Hi in the Irrigon Invitational on Dec. 29. ———— WM 11 12 16 12 — 51 HHS 8 8 6 12 — 34 WESTERN MENNONITE — M. Hull 24, A. Hess 16, P. Hopper, L. Pack 4. HEPPNER — J. Currin 11, M. Combe 10, J. Mahoney 8, R. Dompier 2, N. Propheter 2, J. McCullough 1. 3-pointers — WM 3, HHS 1. Free throws — WM 16-23, HHS 7-19. Fouls — WM 18, HHS 21. TAFT 49, STANFIELD 37 — At Toledo, Brittin Braithwaite had a double-double but the Tigers couldn’t overcome its slow starts to each half in a non-league loss on Tuesday at the Toledo Beach Bash. Stanfield (1-8) outscored Taft (2-4) 20-19 in the even quarters, but lost the odds 31-17. Braithwaite finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Natalia Esquivel added 10 points for Stanfield, which plays its next game today against De La Salle at 8 a.m. Audra Zook scored 15 to pace Taft, and Naomi Rini added 12. ——— THS 21 8 10 11 — 49 SHS 15 7 2 13 — 37 TAFT — A. Zook 15, N. Rini 12, S. Russo 9, A. Mon- ticelli 6, M. Clanton 5, J Reyes-Cornejo 2, C. Fletcher, M. Evenson, E. Coulter, M. Smith. STANFIELD — B. Braithwaite 12, N. Esquivel 10, S. Connell 5, S. Sharp 4, A. Lemmon 2, A. Griffin 2, K. Hart 2, A. Carrillo, J. Garcia, C. Neasham. 3-pointers — THS 4; SHS 1. Free throws — THS 3-8; SHS 4-15. Fouls — THS 18; SHS 14. BLAZERS: Continued from 1B world can see now what’s going on out here because it’s getting ridiculous. It’s really ridiculous.” Earlier in the day, the Kings fined Cousins for his tirade last week against Sacramento Bee columnist Andy Furillo. The newspaper reported the fine was $50,000. CJ McCollum scored 36 points and Plumlee had a career-high 27 points to go with 13 rebounds for the Blazers, who have lost three straight and dropped seven of eight. Damian Lillard had 24 points and eight assists, and Maurice Harkless had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Reserve guard Ty Lawson had 16 points and both Anthony Toll- iver and Arron Afflalo scored 11 for the Kings, who played without second-leading scorer Rudy Gay. Cousins put the Kings ahead 119-117 with a 3, but Plumlee countered with a dunk at the other end to tie it with 46 seconds left. Trailing by six to open the fourth quarter, the Kings outscored Portland 17-4 to take a seven- point lead midway through the period. Lawson put Sacramento in front for the first time, 102-101, with a baseline jumper. TIP-INS Trail Blazers: McCollum had 14 points in 8 first-quarter minutes. ... Al-Farouq Aminu (bruised back) has not played in five of the past six games. ... The Blazers shot 65 percent in the first half and led 72-60 at halftime. ... Portland is 5-13 on the road. ... This was the final game of a three-game road trip and the last leg of difficult December stretch in which the Blazers played eight of nine games and spent 16 of 17 days on the road. UP NEXT Trail Blazers: Host the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
