Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Men’s College Basketball
Rout of Arizona gives No. 5 Oregon a boost
Ducks face tough
road match-ups
down the stretch
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
EUGENE — After a
loss at Colorado and a close
call against Arizona State,
Oregon bounced back big
time with a rout of Arizona.
The 85-58 victory on
Saturday pushed the Ducks
from No. 13 to No. 5 in the
AP Top 25 released Monday.
The jump was the largest in
this week’s poll and brought
Oregon back to its preseason
ranking.
The Ducks (21-3, 10-1)
now sit atop the Pac-12
standings with Arizona and
have the tiebreaker with their
victory. The Wildcats (21-3,
10-1) dropped from fifth to
No. 9 in Monday’s poll.
“If they have another
level above that, that’s a
bad thing for every team in
the country,” Arizona coach
Sean Miller said about the
Ducks after the loss.
With seven regular-season
games to go, perhaps
Oregon’s biggest challenge
down the stretch will come
on Thursday when the team
travels to Pauley Pavilion to
face No. 9 UCLA (21-3, 8-3).
And of the Ducks’ seven
remaining games, five are on
the road.
But the victory over
Arizona certainly gave the
team confidence.
“I feel like the sky’s the
limit,” junior forward Dillon
Brooks said. “We can play
even better than that.”
Oregon coach Dana
Altman used the upcoming
schedule to spur his team on
against the Wildcats.
“I told our guys we have
five road games. We got a
much tougher schedule (than
Arizona),” he said. “We have
to win the game today or
it’s over, and it would have
been.”
Before
the
state-
ment-making win over
Arizona, the Ducks were
slumping a bit. They fell
74-65 at unranked Colorado
on Jan. 28 then struggled at
home in a 71-70 victory over
AP Photo/Chris Pietsch
Oregon’s Payton Pritchard, left, Dylan Ennis and Dillon
Brooks celebrate after Oregon defeated Arizona 85-58 in
an NCAA college basketball game Saturday in Eugene.
Arizona State last Thursday.
The Ducks built a 38-18
lead over the Wildcats and
cruised to the win, leading
by as many as 37 points in
the second half. It was such a
blowout that the home crowd
started to chant for Charlie
Noebel, a walk-on who had
played just 23 minutes this
season. Fans got their wish
and Noebel played the final
three minutes.
The victory was Oregon’s
40th straight at Matthew
Knight Arena, now the
nation’s
longest
home
winning streak after Kansas
fell at home on Saturday.
“It’s the best game we’ve
played in the three years I’ve
been here,” Brooks said.
“Guys were focused and
confident in their shots.”
Tyler Dorsey led the
Ducks with 23 points and six
3-pointers. Brooks added 18
points, and on Monday was
named the Pac-12 player
of the week — not only for
his performance against the
Wildcats but because of his
rally against the Sun Devils.
The Ducks trailed Arizona
State by a point with 3:15
left, but Brooks went on a
personal 12-point run for
the win and finished with 27
points.
Brooks is leading the
Ducks with an average of
14.4 points a game, but he’s
averaging 16 points against
Pac-12 opponents.
The Ducks’ No. 5 ranking
brings the team back to their
preseason position in the
AP poll. Oregon had some
trouble out of the gate, with
November losses at Baylor
and against Georgetown in
Maui, but had a 17-game
winning streak before the
Colorado loss.
Last season, the Ducks
won a school-record 31
games while claiming the
Pac-12 regular-season and
tournament titles. Oregon
earned a first-ever No. 1 seed
in the NCAA Tournament,
and the Ducks advanced to
the Elite Eight for the first
time since 2007.
The
Ducks
also
rebounded from a brief
stumble last season: They
lost back-to-back games on
the road in mid-February.
Under Altman, the Ducks are
40-16 in the second half of
the conference season.
Brooks credits his coach
with keeping the team
focused.
“He always finds a way
— if we’re on top, keeps us
level-headed and keeps us
focusing and working hard,
and if we’re down, finds a
way to push us to go harder,”
he said.
ATHENA
Rockets fly past TigerScots
Boys Basketball
Pilot Rock keeps
postseason hopes
alive with win
Pilot Rock Weston-McEwen
75
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Cesar Ortiz (3), of Hermiston, goes to the bas-
ket Monday night against The Dalles at the Dawg
House.
DAWGS: Girls stick
to game plan for win
Continued from 1B
quarter we started to figure
it out.”
Jordan Ramirez also
did most of his damage off
the dribble and scored nine
of his 12 points in the first
half as Hermiston staked
a 35-34 lead at the break.
They had stretched that to
58-48 by the end of the
third quarter.
Kody Moss got the
start for Hermiston and
added nine points and six
rebounds in what Arstein
said was his best game of
the season.
Dakota Murr scored a
game-high 25 points to lead
The Dalles, and Eric Flores
added 17.
The Bulldogs are at
Hood River tonight for
a 7 p.m. tip-off. Hermis-
ton’s next home game is
Thursday when it hosts
Pendleton at 5:45 p.m.
———
TDHS
19 15 14 14 — 62
HHS
18 17 23 19 — 77
THE DALLES — D. Murr 25, E. Flores
17, J. Nisbet 10, J. Miller 5, O. Fernandez
3, Do. Seufalemua 2, D. Hoffman, J. Her-
nandez, Da. SEufalemua, J. Bonham.
HERMISTON — X. Rambo 22, C. Flores
17, J. Ramirez 12, K. Moss 9, C. Ortiz
6, A. James 6, H. Walls 3, A Mendez
2, A. Earl, R. Andreason, P. Wicks, T.
McCullough, J. Hinkle.
3-pointers — HHS 7; TDHS 4. Free
throws — HHS 10-22; TDHS 14-17. Fouls
— HHS 16; TDHS 19.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
HERMISTON 52, THE
DALLES 39 — At The
Dalles, the Bulldogs’ game
Andrew
James
(15), of
Herm-
iston,
goes
to the
basket
Mon-
day
night
against
The
Dalles
at the
Dawg
House.
Staff photo
by Kathy
Aney
plan was to force the River-
hawks point guard Kailin
Hoylman to carry The Dalles’
offense, and although she
finished with a game-high
18 points it wasn’t enough to
offset the loss of production
from other players.
Maddy Juul paced
Hermiston (9-9, 3-1 CRC)
with 13 points and seven
rebounds, and Jazlyn
Romero added nine points
and
seven
rebounds.
Kynzee Padilla and Rileigh
Andreason each had eight.
“I was very pleased with
the way they handled them-
selves,” said Hermiston
coach Juan Rodriguez. “It
was a tough day, especially
for some of the older girls,
and they weren’t at their
best but they did enough.”
The Dalles (6-8, 1-3)
led by two after the first
quarter, but Hermiston went
on a 14-5 run in the second
quarter to take a 27-20 lead
at halftime.
Hermiston will host
Hood River tonight at 7
p.m., then hosts Pendleton
on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
———
HHS
13 14 15 10 — 52
TDHS
15 5 11
8 — 39
HERMISTON — M. Juul 13, J. Romero
9, K. Padilla 8, R. Andreason 8, H.
Thompson 4, J. Thomas 3, S. Gilbert 2, S.
Stefani, M. Wilson, R. Meyers.
THE DALLES — Ka. Hoylman 18, K.
Jesch 8, J. Thomasian 6, B. McCall 4, I.
Taylor 3, H. Wallis, S. Watson, M. Taylor,
Ki. Hoylman, B. LeBreton.
3-pointers — HHS 1; THDS 2. Free
throws — HHS 9-14; TDHS 5-11. Fouls —
HHS 12; TDHS 16.
A lot was riding on
Saturday evening’s game for
the Pilot Rock Rockets.
A win over Weston-
McEwen would keep Pilot
Rock in a position for one of
the three district tournament
slots, while a loss to the
TigerScots would likely
mean another year left out.
And early in the second half,
the Rockets appeared to be
headed towards the latter, as
Weston-McEwen opened up
the third quarter on a 10-2
run to build a 44-33 lead
with 5:25 left in the quarter.
The outburst led to a timeout
called by Rockets coach
Mike Weinke, which proved
to be a game-changer.
“Coach told us to keep
playing hard on defense and
to just keep playing hard,
not to slow down,” Rockets
junior Bryson Pierce said of
the message in the timeout.
Pilot Rock came out of
the timeout re-energized and
refocused, and it quickly
showed. The Rockets went
on to outscore the TigerScots
42-18 over the final 13
minutes and 25 seconds of
game time to run away with
a 75-62 victory and spoil the
TigerScots’ home finale.
“I can’t even say how
huge it is for the program and
for the town,” Weinke said of
the victory. “The boys team
has been down for several
years and we’ve been close
a few times (to districts) and
haven’t quite gotten over the
hump, but this gets us over
the hump for the moment.”
Pierce led all scorers with
23 points for Pilot Rock
(10-8, 3-3 CBC) and he
also added six rebounds. He
carried the Rockets offense
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Chris Weinke (20), of Pilot Rock, goes up for a shot
with pressure from Weston-McEwens Ethan Reger (3)
during Saturday’s boys basketball game in Athena.
for most of the first half,
scoring 16 of his team’s 31
points, but turned in some
clutch baskets when his
team needed them down the
stretch.
“I just wanted to go out
and play hard and do the best
I can to help my team get a
win,” Pierce said of his perfor-
mance, “because we really
needed this win for league.”
“He was really patient
tonight, going to the hole and
doing things that would give
him an advantage because
of his size,” Weinke said of
Pierce. “Teams have been
keying on Bryson quite a bit
and he hasn’t been getting
many scoring opportunities
but he earned them tonight.”
Weston-McEwen (11-7,
3-2) still held the lead at the
end of the third quarter with
a 54-51 advantage, though
TigerScots coach Brian
Pickard said after the game
that he wasn’t surprised with
the way the fourth quarter
turned out.
“It seemed by the mid
third quarter we were in slow
motion and they (Pilot Rock)
were at a different speed,”
Pickard said. “They were
getting all the 50-50 balls and
everything started going their
way and we just could not get
the momentum back.”
Pilot Rock opened the
fourth quarter on a 9-0 run as
they made four of their first
five shots, slicing through
the TigerScot defense to the
basket. Foul shots played a
big part for the Rockets too,
as they went 18-23 from the
62
line in the second half alone.
“We’ve
been
working
on composure and that’s
something that’s gotten away
from us in recent games,”
Weinke said. “They played
with composure and got after
the defensive boards because
we were giving up second
chance after second chance
points. And offensively we
wanted to go to the hole so
the kids started driving and
we got some fouls and they
had some success.”
Shaw Broncheau was the
only TigerScot to reach double
figures in scoring with 21
points, though he scored just
five of those in the second half
as Pilot Rock’s defense picked
up and he battled with foul
issues. As a team, Weston-
McEwen shot just 33 percent
from the field which Pickard
called “one of our worst
shooting nights this year.”
The loss was tough to
swallow for the TigerScots,
who now have to finish the
season on the road with road
games at Heppner, at Stan-
field and at Culver as they
hope to lock up a spot in the
district tournament.
“We have a tough road
now battling with Heppner
and Pilot Rock for those
spots and we definitely have
our work cut out for us,”
Pickard said.
————
PR
16 15 20 24 — 75
W-M
14 20 20
8 — 62
PILOT ROCK — B. Pierce 23, C. Weinke
14, T. Denny 12, R. Lankford 11, D. Hasher
7, L. Thieme 4, B. Postma 4.
WESTON-MCEWEN — S. Broncheau 21,
E. Reger 11, B. Speed 8, G. Hungerford 7, J.
Speed 4, J. West 4, Q. Picard 3, B. Rudolph
2, B. Dearing 2.
3-pointers — PR 3, W-M 5. Free throws
— PR 24-33, W-M 11-14. Fouls — PR 14,
W-M 27. Fouled out — J. West (W-M).
————
Contact Eric at esinger@
eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0839. Follow him
on Twitter @ByEricSinger.
TIGERSCOTS: Five lead changes in overtime
Continued from 1B
then capped off by a mirac-
ulous turnaround 3-pointer
that Sara Weinke drilled
from 24 feet away right at
the buzzer. Weinke went on
to lead the Rockets with 15
points and nine rebounds.
“First quarter we played
well as a team, filled all the
open spots and then second
quarter all we did was have
one player drive against five
of them,” Pilot Rock coach
Butch Wilson said. “But I
knew this game would have
both teams making their
runs, back-and-forth because
we match up pretty evenly.”
Pilot Rock was able to tie
the game at 28-28 with five
minutes left, but just a short
time later the Rockets were
dealt a blow as point guard
Bekah Roe picked up her
fourth foul with 4:51 left and
sat the rest of the quarter. As a
result, the Rockets shot 4-14
from the floor and scored 13
points to trail by 38-35 at the
end of three.
“That hurt us,” Wilson said
of Roe’s absence. “She’s our
press breaker, our mentally
toughest player, our captain.”
The fourth quarter was
a heavy defensive battle
for both teams, as neither
reached double digit points
in the quarter. Pilot Rock
re-took the lead at 44-42 with
3:47 left to play on a lay-in
by Rachel Willingham but
Weston-McEwen came back
and tied the game at 46-46
with just 18.2 seconds left.
The Rockets had the ball and
a chance to win the game
after the free throws, but
Quaempts got her hand in a
passing lane to tip the ball,
and was subsequently fouled.
The foul was huge for
both sides, as the TigerScots
were in the double bonus
and Quaempts — who was
9-11 from the free throw line
prior — stepped to the line
with a chance to put her team
on top with just 2.3 seconds
left. But as luck would have
it, Quaempts missed the first
and then made the second,
before it was wiped away
for a lane violation, keeping
the game tied at 46-46 and
sending it to overtime.
In the extra session, the
lead changed five times and
there were also three ties.
After Pilot Rock took its last
lead at 53-51 with 2:15 left,
Weston-McEwen answered
with a pair of free throws by
Bailey Hillmick to tie it at
53-53 and then three straight
free throws by Vescio to put
them on top for good.
“All the girls stepped up
and they worked as a team to
get this one,” Jensen said.
Behind Vescio, Sarah
Finifrock chipped in 11
points and nine rebounds,
Ali Schroeder had nine
points and seven boards, and
Hillmick had six points and
11 boards.
The win puts Weston-
McEwen atop the Columbia
Basin Conference with a
one-half game lead over Pilot
Rock with three games left to
play.
“If we’re fortunate again
to play them in the districts,
it should be a good one,”
Wilson said of the two teams.
————
PR
17 5 13 11 7 — 53
W-M
12 12 14
8 10 — 56
PILOT ROCK — S. Weinke 15, B. Roe 11,
R. Willingham 10, J. Wilson 7, K. Deist 7, R.
Oates 2, K. Evans 1.
WESTON-MCEWEN — K. Vescio 15, S.
Finifrock 11, C. Quaempts 11, A. Schroeder
9, B. Hillmick 6, A. Coffman 3, A. Finifrock 1.
3-pointers — PR 5, W-M 4. Free throws
— PR 14-21, W-M 20-31. Fouls — PR 24,
W-M 14. Fouled out — B. Roe, S. Weinke
(PR); S. Finifrock, C. Quaempts (W-M).