Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, January 7, 2017
HERMISTON
Bulldogs victorious in overtime thriller
Rambo scores
21 as Hermiston
holds off Dallas
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
Suspense fi lled the Dawg House Friday
night as the Hermiston Bulldogs possessed
the ball while staring at a 49-47 defi cit with
just 12.5 seconds left to play against the
Dallas Dragons.
As the seconds started to tick off the
clock, the ball found its way into the hands
of senior guard Xavier Rambo — who had
been the go-to scorer for Hermiston in the
game. As Rambo possessed the ball, he
scanned the fl oor and saw an opening in the
middle and drove past his defender toward
the basket and avoided traffi c to lay it in off
the glass to tie the game at 49-49 and send it
to overtime.
Then in the extra period
with Hermiston ahead Boys Hoops
52-51 with 50 seconds
remaining, Rambo skied
to grab a rebound off a
Dallas
missed Dallas 3-pointer
and then sped down the
court past two Dallas
defenders for a wide-open
lay-in to help Hermiston
clinch a 54-51 non-league
Hermiston
victory over the Dragons.
Rambo said he knew once
he got to half court he was
going to make the shot.
“When I got to halfcourt, I knew I was
gone and I’m not going to pass it since I’m
going in and I’m a pretty fast guy,” he said
with a smile.
Hermiston (9-3) coach Casey Arstein
admitted that he thought about calling his
fi nal timeout after the rebound to set up a
play, but quickly realized that Rambo had the
game in his hands.
“We had one timeout and looking out
there, I was thinking about pulling it out
but as he (Rambo) kept going and he kept
passing guys ... I knew we’ll take it,” he said.
“He does a good job of attacking. Everyone
made some interesting shot decisions tonight,
including him, but when it counted he did the
right thing and that’s go to the rim and I was
proud of him.”
It was a pretty up-and-down game overall
for Hermiston, who played their second game
without star senior guard Chance Flores who
is out indefi nitely with a broken right hand.
Rambo, who fi nished with a game-high 21
points, said that the team is still adapting to
some new roles without Flores on the court.
“It’s a different game without Chance,”
he said. “He’s a big help defensively and
offensively but we’re all hard workers so we
get it done.
“And I’m the leader now. (Chance) is
usually the leader but now I’m the leader and
we have to go do big things.”
The game featured 14 ties and 14 lead
changes as neither team could sustain a lead.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Jordan Ramirez shoots the
ball guarded by Dallas’ Jaret Stewart
(44) and Evan Courtney (3) in the Bull-
dogs’ 54-51 overtime win against the
Dragons on Friday in Hermiston.
51
54
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Xavier Rambo shoots the ball over Dallas’ Zach Wallace (24) and Jake
Collins (00) in the Bulldogs’ 54-51 overtime win against the Dragons on Friday in
Hermiston.
Hermiston took the early momentum and
turned it into a 15-9 lead after one quarter
and pushed the lead up to 19-9 early in the
second quarter.
But that’s when Dallas (5-5) made its
fi rst real push, going on a 14-0 run to take a
23-19 lead with three minutes left in the half.
Hermiston snapped the scoreless drought
with a fl oater by Andrew James at the 2:31
mark, but still trailed 25-24 at halftime. The
second half played out very back-and-forth,
with neither team holding a lead larger than
three points the entire way.
“It was an interesting night,” Arstein said
of the game. “Dallas is better than their record
and it was a good battle and I just thought we
played sloppy, but we’ll take the win at home
and in overtime.”
Along with Rambo’s 21 points, Andrew
James pitched in 10 points, while Kody Moss
and Jordan Ramirez each had six.
Perhaps the moment Arstein was most
proud of was the fi nal 30 seconds of the
overtime period, as Hermiston’s defense put
together its best stand of the game. The Bull-
dogs defenders stayed right in the faces of
the Dallas players, not allowing an open look
from the 3-point line for nearly the entire 30
seconds until Dallas attempted a prayer shot
from the corner as time expired.
“In the huddle we talked about that they
(Dallas) gotta go for a three,” he said. “I was
mainly concerned with getting slipped on a
screen or not fouling, but I thought the guys
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Kody Moss shoots the ball
guarded by Dallas’ Aaron White in the
Bulldogs’ 54-51 overtime win against
the Dragons on Friday in Hermiston.
did a good job of grinding one out.”
————
DHS
9 16 10 14 2 — 51
HHS
15 9 12 13 5 — 54
DALLAS — J. Richey 14, E. Courtney 9, J. Ronco 7, C. Weisensee 7,
J. Collins 4, A. White 4, J. Stewart 4.
HERMISTON — X. Rambo 21, A. James 10, J. Ramirez 6, K. Moss
6, C. Ortiz 5, H. Walls 4, A. Earl 2.
3-pointers — DHS 3, HHS 3. Free throws — DHS 12-13, HHS 9-13.
Fouls — DHS 14, HHS 20.
————
Contact Eric at esinger@eastoregonian.
com or (541) 966-0839. Follow him on
Twitter @ByEricSinger.
MLB
Mariners stay busy in trade market, acquire Gallardo, Dyson
Associated Press
SEATTLE — The Mariners
landed another option for their
pitching rotation on Friday,
acquiring right-hander Yovani
Gallardo from the Baltimore
Orioles for outfi elder Seth Smith.
Seattle also will receive $2
million from the Orioles, equalizing
the 2017 salaries of the players, in
a deal that may solve concerns for
both teams.
“Gallardo gives us the veteran
presence that we have been
searching for,” Seattle general
manager Jerry Dipoto said. “He
has a track record of durability and
success as a starting pitcher. After
examining the free agent and trade
market, Yovani is the best fi t for
our club as we move forward this
offseason.”
The acquisition of another
potential starter was high on Seat-
tle’s list of needs after the Mariners
traded Taijuan Walker to Arizona in
November. Gallardo was 6-8 with a
5.32 ERA in 23 starts last year with
the Orioles, a season that included
a lengthy early season stint on the
disabled list due to shoulder issues.
Two seasons ago Gallardo was
13-11 with a 3.42 ERA in 33 starts
with Texas.
“”It was tough. Last year wasn’t
fun for me,” Gallardo said. “It was
down for year for me. It didn’t start
off the right way. I showed up to
spring training late after signing
late and I got started a little bit later
than normal. That injury early in the
year, it was very frustrating. I think
this offseason I’ve done everything
I can to prepare myself to avoid
that for the rest of my career. I’m
looking forward to a bounce back
year.”
Seattle is hoping Gallardo can
revert to that past form. Prior to
his one season with the Orioles,
Gallardo had made at least 30 starts
in seven straight seasons and had
an ERA under 4.00 in six of those
seven years. Gallardo’s contract
has an $11 million salary this year
and includes a $13 million team
option for 2018 with a $2 million
Gallardo
Dyson
buyout.
“I started my normal offseason
program, started working out three
weeks after the season is over
and trying to get stronger,” said
Gallardo, who has yet to decide if
he’ll pitch for Mexico in the World
Baseball Classic. “I’m doing all the
work I can do to prepare myself.”
The cost for Seattle was signif-
icant but fi lls Baltimore’s need for
another corner outfi elder. Smith
was one of Seattle’s more consis-
tent hitters during his two seasons
and was expected to be a platoon
outfi elder for them again this year.
While he hit only .248 and .249 in
his two seasons with Seattle, he had
an on-base percentage of .330 and
.342 in both of those seasons.
“We dealt from an area of
surplus,” Baltimore vice presi-
dent of baseball operations Dan
Duquette said. “We had six starters
to fi ll an area of need, and that was
left-handed hitting, on-base capa-
bility and an outfi elder. So we like
the trade from that perspective. We
re-allocated some of our resources
and in the process we strengthened
our team.”
Last season, Smith appeared in
137 games and had 16 home runs
and a career-high 63 RBIs. He
was also Seattle’s best hitter with
runners in scoring position, hitting
.326 in those situations.
Seattle made a second trade
later Friday, sending right-hander
Nathan Karns to Kansas City for
outfi elder Jarrod Dyson and in part
replenishing the loss of Smith. The
addition of Dyson gives Seattle one
of the quickest outfi elds in baseball.
Dipoto said he envisions Dyson
in left fi eld, Leonys Martin in
center fi eld and Mitch Haniger in
right fi eld, with Ben Gamel and
Guillermo Heredia competing
for playing time. But Dipoto was
excited about the potential run
protection and fl exibility that Seat-
tle’s outfi eld will have this season.
“We feel we now have fi ve
legitimate center fi elders,” he said.
Dyson, a former 50th-round
draft pick, became a fan-favorite
in Kansas City thanks primarily to
his speed on the bases. He hit .278
while stealing 30 bases a year ago.
“We’ve had many conversations
about Dyson specifi cally,” Dipoto
said, “and what a good fi t he was
for our team. He’s an elite-level
defender. He’s dynamic on the
bases, a fearless base stealer. And
the combination of Jarrod Dyson,
Leonys Martin and Jean Segura
hitting somewhere between the
bottom and top of your lineup really
creates a three-player dynamic on
the bases for us that is probably
different than the Mariners have
had in a long time and perhaps
most different than most teams in
our league.”
Sports shorts
Wagner named All-Pro linebacker
SEATTLE — After leading the NFL in tackles
for the 2016 season, Seattle Seahawks’ middle
linebacker Bobby Wagner was named fi rst team
All-Pro by the Associated Press on Friday.
Wagner’s 167 total tackles were also a
franchise record. It’s also the third
straight season earning All-Pro
status for Wagner.
“It still means a ton,” Wagner
told the Associated Press. “It defi -
nitely means a lot to me. It means
the hard work in the offseason is
recognized.”
Wagner
Also recognized by the AP was
second-year player Tyler Lockett,
who was named a second team All-Pro at kick
returner. It’s also Lockett’s second straight year
on the team, after earning fi rst team honors last
season as a rookie.
Lockett returned 23 kicks this season for an
average of 26.3 yards, fourth best in the NFL.
“There is a consensus,
if not unanimity, the
games need to be
shortened, but there is
also a strong belief that
we don’t want to reduce
the number of plays in a
game.“
— Karl Benson
Sun Belt Conference commission-
er and several others are inter-
ested in fi nding ways to speed up
or shorten the times on college
football games in the coming
seasons. The average length of
games has increased from 3:17
in 2013 to 3:24 this season.
Grizzlies stun Warriors at
home with overtime win
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Golden State
squandered a spectacular 40-point night by
Stephen Curry with an awful
fourth quarter as the Memphis
Grizzlies stunned the Warriors
128-119 on Friday.
Marc Gasol and Zach
Randolph each made two quick
baskets as the Grizzlies hit
their initial fi ve shots in OT on
the way to beating the Warriors for a second
time this season and snapping Golden State’s
nine-game home winning streak.
Mike Conley scored 27 points and tied it on
a 17-footer with 7.4 seconds left in regulation,
and a heavily guarded Curry missed from way
back before the buzzer.
Kevin Durant added 27 points and 13
rebounds in the Warriors’ sixth loss of the
season.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1992 — Pitchers Tom
Seaver and Rollie Fingers are
elected to the Baseball Hall
of Fame. Seaver receives the
highest percentage of votes in
history, which stood until 2015.
2004 — Brian Boucher
becomes the fi rst NHL goalie
in almost 55 years to record
four consecutive shutouts. His
27 saves carries Phoenix past
Washington 3-0.
2006 — The New
England Patriots set an NFL
mark with 10 straight post-
season victories by beating
the Jacksonville Jaguars
28-3, surpassing the nine
straight playoff victories by
Green Bay in the 1960s.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com