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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2017)
SPORTS THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS HERMISTON STANFIELD Bulldogs dismantle Pioneers Tigers hungry for another run Herm- iston’s Kynzee Padilla shoots the ball surround- ed by Sandy defenders in the Bulldogs’ 53-29 win against the Pio- neers on Wednes- day in Hermis- ton. Hermiston routs Sandy, advances to fi rst round By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian The Bulldogs weren’t falling for any of Sandy’s tricks. Hermiston never fl inched when the Pioneers opened Wednesday’s 5A play-in game looking nothing like they’d seen on fi lm. If anything, the Pioneers just ended up outsmarting themselves and the Bulldogs Girls Hoops never trailed on their way to a 53-29 rout. Sandy Sandy (14-10), the No. 5 team from the North- west Oregon Conference, opened in a zone Hermiston defense and an offense that put all fi ve players outside the three- point arc. “That’s not something we’ve seen (Sandy) do at all, ever,” said Hermiston coach Juan Rodriguez. “It probably just had something to do with the fact that we’re a more athletic team and they were trying to slow the ball down quite a bit and see if they could make it a shorter game. I was worried there for a while, but once we got in a groove and started scoring they had to come out of it, and try to score as well.” It took nearly three minutes to break the scoreless tie, but Sandy went 3:31 without even attempting a shot. By then senior post Maddy Staff photo by E.J. Harris 29 53 See BULLDOGS/3B Stanfi eld eyes experienced bracket at 2A tournament By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian The key word for this week’s 2A boys basketball state tournament is experience. Half of the eight teams that will tip off at Pendleton High School today are loaded with returning Class 2A starters and players that Quarterfi nals saw minutes during previous state appear- ances. Three of the teams have little to no state #7 Oakridge experience to speak of. Warriors Then there’s Stanfi eld. (20-6) The No. 2 Tigers don’t fi t in with either group, because although they bring just two players #2 Stanfi eld to Pendleton that have Tigers played in state tourna- (20-1) ment game in basketball, • Today, 8:30 nearly the entire roster p.m. has been experiencing • at Pendleton High School playoff success in some sport from the time they made their fi rst varsity roster. A title run in baseball in 2016 and a runner-up fi nish in football this past fall has the Tigers well accustomed to playing under pressure. “Everybody’s tough from here on out, there’s no gimmes,” said senior Dylan Grogan, who started as a freshman for the 2014 basketball team that placed third. “I can see from that team and this team, the thing that we have in common is we’re See TIGERS/2B MISSION ATHENA TigerScots embracing underdog role Golden Eagles ready to roll as top seed Weston-McEwen gunning for upsets as state begins #9 Powder #1 Nixyaawii Valley Golden Eagles (21-5) (24-0) • Today, 1:30 p.m. • at Baker High School Nixyaawii girls ready to start run to state title By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian The Weston-McEwen TigerScots are no strangers to the underdog role. Just four months Class 2A ago, the majority of the quarterfi nals TigerScots basketball players made the state tournament in volleyball as a No. 5 #13 Weston- seed and proceeded to pull of three statistical McEwen (17-8) upsets over the No. 4, No. 1, and No. 3 seed to capture the state cham- pionship. Now, starting #5 Imbler today, the TigerScots Panthers girls basketball team (15-6) will head to the state • Today, 1:30 tournament as a No. p.m. 13 seed ready to make • at Pendleton another run. Convention “It’s kind of funny Center because we were in almost exact same posi- tion,” senior Sarah Finifrock said before See TIGERSCOTS/2B In this Jan. 5, 2017 fi le photo, Nixy- aawii’s Milan Schimmel (24) dishes off a pass during a game against Echo. Schim- mel and the Golden Eagles head to the 1A state tour- nament today as the No. 1 seed in the bracket. The Nixyaawii girls basketball team has been the premier team in Class 1A for the majority of the 2016-17 season, standing as one of only three unbeaten girls programs in the entire state of Oregon and dominating nearly every team that stood in its way. The Golden Eagles (24-0) have won only three games by 10 points or less, including a 54-51 victory over defending state champion Country Chris- tian on Dec. 3, but have won their remaining 21 games by an average of 31.4 points. However, the Golden Eagles know that they have the target on their backs as the No. 1 overall seed in the Class 1A state tournament starting tomorrow, and that the previous 24 games mean nothing at this point. “It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, we’re just trying to take it one game at a time,” Nixy- Staff photo by Kathy Aney aawii coach Jeremy Maddern said prior to practice on Wednesday. “We’ve kind of felt that target all season being the defending league champions and having the talent that we have, we got everybody’s best game throughout the season so it’s nothing new.” What is also not new is Nixy- aawii’s opponent in the quarterfi - nals of the state tournament to be played today, the Powder Valley Badgers (21-5). Both teams fi nished 1-2 at the top of the Old 1A Quarterfi nals Oregon League this season and faced off three times with Nixy- aawii winning all three games by an average of 21 points, the most recent a 46-27 win in the district championship on Feb. 18. However, Nixyaawii knows that they cannot get too cocky knowing those previous results. “Any team can beat us at any moment,” senior Stacy Fitzpat- rick said, “so you have to go into every game not knowing what the outcome might be. We have to go in confi dent, but not too confi dent.” “We’ve talked about it a lot,” Maddern added. “It’s kind of hard, but I also think it’s an advantage because if we get off to a good start, it’ll be in their head a little bit. But for the most part, we’re just trying to down there and get a win now matter how it happens, but we also understand it’ll be a tougher game.” See NIXYAAWII/2B Sports shorts Sixers’ Embiid to miss rest of season MIAMI (AP) — Philadelphia center Joel Embiid’s season is over because of left knee problems, including a torn meniscus that is worse than the 76ers fi rst thought. Embiid hadn’t played since Jan. 27, and the 76ers had said in recent days that his return was likely later this week. But an MRI performed Monday showed the meniscus problem was worse than the original diagnosis suggested, and after reviewing that information Embiid the 76ers decided to end his season. Embiid missed his fi rst two NBA seasons with right foot issues, then fi nally made his debut this season and appeared in 31 games with the 76ers. Embiid averaged 20.2 points and 7.8 rebounds this season, numbers that merited serious All-Star consideration. “My goal is to make our team the team of the Rockies. We want to be the team that broadcasts into Boise, Salt Lake City, all through Montana ... It’s the Vegas Golden Knights, but we’re going to be everywhere.“ — Bill Foley Vegas Golden Knights owner speaking on Wednesday after Vegas offi cially became the 31st NHL franchise after making the fi nal expansion payment. The ex- pansion draft is set for June 21. Mariners make yet another trade, pick up starting pitcher PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — The Seattle Mari- ners acquired right-hander Chase De Jong from the Los Angeles Dodgers for a pair of minor leaguers Wednesday. The Mariners sent infi elder Drew Jackson and pitcher Aneurys Zabala to the Dodgers, and designated infi elder Mike Freeman for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. De Jong, 23, is coming off a stellar 2016 season mostly spent at Double-A where he went 15-2 with a 2.82 ERA in 26 starts with Tulsa. He was promoted to Triple-A Okla- homa City for one game. He was named the Texas League pitcher of the year last season. Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto says the Mariners see De Jong as “knocking at the door,” of being a starter in the majors. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1921 — Kentucky beats Georgia 20-19 in the Southern Intercollegiate men’s basketball championship game in Atlanta. The 14-team conference does not keep formal regular season standings. It’s college basket- ball’s fi rst tournament. 1962 — Wilt Chamberlain scores an NBA-record 100 points to lead the Philadelphia Warriors to a 169-147 triumph over the New York Knicks. Chamberlain scores 59 second- half points and 28 points from the free-throw line for records. 2012 — MLB expands its playoff format to 10 teams, adding a second wild-card in each league. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
