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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2017)
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PENDLETON MLB Pendleton ends drought Bucks capture fi rst league title since ‘05 Seattle outfielder testifies Tuesday in Cuban smuggling trial By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian Tuesday’s Pendle- ton-Hermiston girls basket- ball team had more hype surrounding it than usual. Not only was it the rubber match between the two schools, but it was also the de facto Columbia River Conference championship game, with the Buckaroos playing for a chance at its fi rst league CRC title since 2005. “I told the girls Hermiston before the game that they had 32 minutes, and those 32 minutes Pendleton could erase 11 years,” Pendleton coach Kevin Porter said. And after all 1,920 seconds ticked off the score- board, the Buckaroos did just that. After holding a four point halftime lead, Pendleton outscored Hermiston 44-26 in the second half to run away with a 59-37 victory to clinch the CRC championship. When the buzzer sounded, Pendleton students rushed the court and celebrated with the team, with each girl and coach wearing a smile that was 11 years in the making. “Oh my goodness!” Haley Greb exclaimed after the game. “This has been our goal for this entire season and I knew this team could do it. I’m so proud of my teammates ... it’s just so crazy.” “It’s so overwhelming but See PENDLETON/2B Mariners’ Martin tells tale to jury By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press 37 59 Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton’s Maureen Davies shoots the ball over Hermiston’s Jazlyn Romero in the Bucks’ 59- 37 win against the Bulldogs on Tuesday in Pendleton. Pendleton’s Wyatt Mor- ris blocks a shot by Herm- iston’s Xavier Rambo in the Bucks’ 62-42 win against the Bulldogs’ on Tuesday in Pendle- ton. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Bucks celebrate in style Pendleton beats Hermiston, then commemorates league title By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian For a game featuring several irregularities during its build-up, Tuesday night’s match-up with Hermiston sure played out in familiar fashion for the Pendleton boys basket- ball team. It took the Buckaroos about nine minutes to get into the swing of things, but after senior Johnny Stuvland gave them their fi rst lead of the game with a low post-up early in the second quarter, they never gave it back and took turns coming up with big plays MIAMI — Seattle Mariners outfi elder Leonys Martin told a Miami jury Tuesday he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without any valid papers because he feared being kidnapped or worse after he was smuggled from Cuba by a group linked to a sports agent and a baseball trainer. Martin’s testimony came in the federal trial of Bartolo Hernandez and Julio Estrada, who are charged with conspiracy and alien smuggling. Martin told jurors he crossed at Laredo, Texas, in April 2011 after agreeing to a fi ve-year, $15.5 million contract with the Texas Rangers. “My life was in “ We were danger in Mexico,” Martin testifi ed. “My afraid that safety was at risk.” Like other Cuban I would be players who have testifi ed in the case, kidnapped Martin said he and that’s was whisked away Cuba in 2010 why we from by speedboat to Mexico. decided to Cancun, Cuban players must cross the establish residency in a third country in border.” order to sign lucrative free agent contracts — Leonys Mar- with Major League tin, Baseball in the U.S. Seattle Mariners While in Cancun, outfi elder Martin said “eight or nine” men who said they were armed broke into his apartment with a crowbar and pressured him to leave with them. Martin refused and the men eventually left, but he said the alleged smuggling ring decided after that to relocate a group of players to Monterrey, Mexico. “The people were looking for us so we had to put some distance between them and us,” Martin testifi ed. “It was a diffi cult moment. We knew what bad things could happen.” While in Monterrey, a kidnapping attempt was made against one of the smugglers but he managed to escape out the back of his house, See MARTIN/3B CRC Hermiston Pendleton 42 62 for a 62-42 win at Warberg Court. An all-senior starting lineup on Senior Night, some new “3-peat” warm-up shirts and a preplanned net-cutting ceremony that would follow the game to commemorate the team’s third-straight Columbia River Conference title all added to Pendleton’s desire to put a strong foot forward against the cross-county rivals they never need any extra motivation to beat. But, like they had before in the season series Pendleton swept, it was the Bulldogs coming out strong and getting See BOYS BASKETBALL/2B AP Photo/Alan Diaz Seattle Mariners outfi elder Leonys Mar- tin walks out of the federal courthouse with his attorney Paul Minoff, left, Tues- day, Feb. 21, 2017, in Miami. Martin told a Miami jury Tuesday he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without any valid papers because he feared being kid- napped or worse after he was smuggled from Cuba by a group linked to a sports agent and a baseball trainer. Sports shorts Lakers hire Magic Johnson in major front offi ce shakeup LOS ANGELES (AP) The Los Angeles Lakers have fi red general manager Mitch Kupchak and put Magic Johnson in charge of basketball operations in a major shake-up of the struggling franchise’s front offi ce. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss also removed her brother, Jim, from his job as the Lakers’ executive vice president of basketball operations Tuesday. Jeanie Buss then promoted Johnson, the Hall of Fame point Johnson guard who returned to the fran- chise earlier this year in an executive role. Mitch Kupchak has been the 16-time NBA champion franchise’s GM since 2000, when Jerry West left the club. The Lakers are mired in the worst four-year stretch in franchise history. They are 19-39 this season. “I’m trying to get my life back in order. I’m trying to manage my daughters and, most of the time, they are managing me.“ — Alex Rodriguez Retired MLB player who is serv- ing as a special advisor for the New York Yankees this season. A-Rod, 41, said he was unin- terested in returning to play this season, and turned down offers after his playing days were over with the Yankees in 2016. Cline’s three-pointers lift No. 14 Purdue to overtime win STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Ryan Cline scored six of his 11 points in overtime to lift No. 14 Purdue to a 74-70 victory over Penn State on Tuesday night. Cline hit consecutive 3-pointers to secure his team’s sixth straight win in a game the Boilermakers led for just 9:16. Vincent Edwards added 14 points, Isaac Haas chipped in 13 and Dakota Mathias scored 12 for the Boilermakers (23-5, 12-3 Big Ten). Tony Carr scored 21 points, Lamar Stevens added 18 and Mike Watkins fi nished with 11 for Penn State (14-14, 6-9). Penn State led for all but 7:35 of regulation and by as many as 10 points midway through the fi rst half. But they surrendered the lead on a dunk by Haas with 10:13 left. The Nittany Lions used a 10-2 run to send the game into overtime. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1980 — The U.S. Olympic hockey team stuns the Soviet Union with a 4-3 victory in the medal round of the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. Captain Mike Eruzione scores the winning goal midway through the fi nal period. 2010 — Caltech ends its 310-game conference losing streak in men’s basketball beating Occidental College 46-45 in its season fi nale. The Division III school had lost every Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game they had played since Jan. 23, 1985. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com