SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017
1B
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5A Boys Basketball Tournament
Lancers outlast Buckaroos in quarterfi nals
Pendleton bumped to
consolation bracket
5A boys basketball
second-half points.
Quarterfi nals
state
semifi nals
Wilson fi nished
with a 58-49 win on
with 15 points, 10
Tuesday at Oregon
rebounds, six assists
State University’s #7 Pendleton #2 Churchill and four blocks.
Gill Coliseum.
Pendleton (15-5)
Six-foot-10
senior Caden Smith
Churchill (22-4) post
carried the Bucks
Spencer Hoffman was a force in the with 25 points and four rebounds.
fi rst half with 15 of his team-high 20
Smith’s three-pointer with 3:54
points, and 6-5 guard Lucas Wilson left in the game pulled Pendleton
guided them down the stretch 10 within 45-41, and after a pair of free
49
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The No. 7
Pendleton Buckaroos hung around,
but in the end No. 2 Churchill’s
height was too much to overcome
as the Lancers advanced to the
58
throws by Wilson, a Wyatt Morris
layup made it 47-43 with 2:54 left
on the clock.
But the Bucks went more than
two minutes without scoring again
as Churchill stretched its lead to
55-43 by going 5-for-6 at the free
throw line.
Smith’s three-pointer with :38
seconds left came too late to spark
another push.
Churchill never pulled away
until late, and had its largest of the
fi rst half when Quinn Warshafsky
hit a three to make it 18-11 at the
end of the fi rst quarter.
Pendleton opened the next frame
on a 10-0 run to regain the lead on
a Smith trey.
Kyle Curtis started the run
with a three on the fi rst shot of the
second quarter, then after a block
by Johnny Stuvland and a steal by
See BUCKAROOS/2B
NBA
Blazers overcome Westbrook’s career night
Portland wins
third straight
despite 58 from
Thunder guard
By CLIFF BRUNT
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY —
Portland countered NBA
scoring
leader
Russell
Westbrook’s onslaught with
strength in numbers.
Seven Trail Blazers scored
in double fi gures, and Port-
land overcame Westbrook’s
career-high 58 points to beat
the Oklahoma City Thunder
126-121 on Tuesday night.
“When you see the stats,
Russ got like 60 or what-
ever,” said Portland center
Jusuf Nurkic, who scored 17
points. “I give him 80, we
still have to win. I respect
what he does, but I’m happy
for our team.”
Allen Crabbe scored 23
points, Damian Lillard had
22 and C.J. McCollum 21
for the Trail Blazers, who
won their third straight.
Portland shot 55 percent and
forced Westbrook to keep
producing.
“We’re not good enough
to take nights off defen-
sively,” Westbrook said.
Westbrook shot 21 of 39,
but just 6 of 15 in the fourth
quarter. He entered the game
as the league leader in points
and plus/minus score in the
last fi ve minutes of regulation
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) goes up for a shot between Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J
McCollum, left, and forward Al-Farouq Aminu (8) in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma
City, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. Portland won 126-121.
and overtime. He missed four
shots in the fi nal 83 seconds
that could have tied the game
or given the Thunder the lead.
“Yeah, just missed them,”
Westbrook said. “Made them
all game.”
Westbrook also fi nished
with nine assists and made
13 of 16 free throws.
“He’s incredible,” Port-
land center Meyers Leonard
said. “With that being said,
sometimes, it becomes a
one-man show. Now, he’s
capable of that, but I think
it’s to our credit, from top to
bottom, that we had a lot of
guys contribute.”
Victor Oladipo scored
16 points and Enes Kanter
added 11 for Oklahoma City,
which dropped its fourth
straight. Oklahoma City lost
Portland
OKC
126
121
despite shooting 52 percent.
Westbrook scored 28
points in the fi rst half to give
the Thunder a 67-61 lead.
The Thunder shot 68 percent
before the break.
The
Trail
Blazers
outscored the Thunder 38-25
in the third quarter to take a
99-92 lead into the fourth.
Portland pushed its lead
to 12 early in the fourth
quarter, and the Trail Blazers
led 106-97 when Westbrook
checked back in after a rest.
The Thunder rallied to tie
the score at 116, but Nurkic
scored in close twice to put
Portland up 120-116.
Westbrook missed a 3
with the Thunder trailing
122-119, and Nurkic made
two free throws with 9.8
seconds remaining. West-
brook scored a quick layup
to make it a three-point
game with 4.5 seconds to go.
Portland got the ball in, and
Lillard made two free throws
with 1.4 seconds remaining
to clinch the win.
“We were sharing the
ball,” Leonard said. “We
believed in what we were
doing. We believed in each
other, and that was key, espe-
cially when it comes down to
the end of the game, trusting
the next guy. This was a very
big win for us.”
UMATILLA
Webb named EOL Player of the Year
East Oregonian
The Umatilla boys basket-
ball team had quite the turn-
around in 2016-17, fi nishing
17-8 overall and 8-2 in the
Eastern Oregon League to
help clinch both league and
district championships for
the Vikings.
The continued growth
and improvement of Vikings’
junior guard Kaden Webb
was a big reason for the
dominant season, and the
EOL coaches realized that
as well as Webb was named
as the league’s Player of
the Year. Webb was a fi rst
team all-league member last
season, but took his game
to a new level as Umatilla’s
leading scorer, go-to ball
handler and the top perimeter
defender.
Webb was joined by three
teammates on the all-league
teams, as junior wing Seth
Cranston earned fi rst team
honors while senior wing
Justin Maret and sophomore
guard Sebastian Garcia
earned second team honors.
Irrigon, who fi nished
second in the league in the
school’s fi rst season at the
Class 3A level, earned three
selections with senior Austin
Rice and Hayden White on
the fi rst team and junior post
Johnny Philips on second
team. Riverside senior Eon
Castillo was the Pirates’ lone
all-league selection.
On the girls side, two
locals earned fi rst team selec-
tions as Umatilla’s do-it-all
player Aleesha Watson and
Irrigon’s go-to scorer Jada
Burns both earned top votes
from the coaches. Watson
was Umatilla’s lone represen-
tative, while Burns was joined
by teammates Taylor Davis
(second team) and Aliya
Munoz (honorable mention).
Riverside landed two
players on the all-league teams,
with sophomore Lacey Mashos
cracking the second team and
sophomore Alondra Caldera
earning an honorable mention.
Vale
senior
Abby
Hamilton was the girls Player
of the Year.
———
Eastern Oregon League All-League
Teams
Boys
Player of the Year — Kaden Webb, jr., Umatilla
Coach of the Year — Derrek Lete, Umatilla
First team
Hayden White, sr., Irrigon
Scott Davies, sr., Burns
Andres Gonzalez, sr., Nyssa
Boston Thompson, jr., Nyssa
Seth Cranston, jr., Umatilla
Austin Rice, Irrigon
Second team
Sebastian Garcia, soph., Umatilla
Justin Maret, sr., Umatilla
Eon Castillo, sr., Riverside
Bryce Goss, jr., Burns
Sam McLaughlin, jr., Vale
Johnny Philips, jr., Irrigon
Girls
Player of the Year — Abby Hamilton, sr., Vale
First team
Aleesha Watson, sr., Umatilla
Carli Feist, sr., Burns
Lindsey Taylor, sr., Burns
Madison Mitchell, sr., Nyssa
Jada Burns, jr., Irrigon
Amanda Trenkel, sr., Vale
Second team
Oakley West, jr., Burns
Sailor Hartley, jr., Nyssa
Kierra Hernandez, jr., Nyssa
Taylor Davis, jr., Irrigon
Dallie Johnson, jr., Vale
Lacey Mashos, soph., Riverside
Honorable mention
Alondra Caldera, soph., Riverside
Sydnee Shelman, sr., Burns
Charlie Lancaster, sr., Nyssa
Bo Bourasa, sr., Vale
Britney Arredondo, jr., Nyssa
Aliya Munoz, jr., Irrigon
Alisa Burkhardt, sr., Vale
Staff photo by Eric Singer
In this Feb. 25 fi le photo, Umatilla’s Kaden Webb (1)
directs the offense during a 3A boys basketball fi rst-
round state playoff game against Horizon Christian of
Tualatin on in Umatilla.
Sports shorts
Second former Bulldog wrestler
qualifi es for NCAA Championships
A second former Hermiston Bulldog will
be joining Oregon State’s Joey Delgado at the
NCAA wrestling championships.
Nebraska 157-pound sophomore Tyler Berger
punched his ticket by placing third
at the Big 10 Championships on
Sunday in Bloomington, Indiana.
Berger’s only loss was to
Michigan’s Brian Murphy by
sudden victory in the quarterfi nals.
He would win his next four matches
and got to avenge his loss by beating
Berger
Murphy 5-2 in the third-place match
to qualify for his second NCAA Championships.
Nebraska placed fourth as a team, matching
its best placing since joining the conference in
2011. Delgado qualifi ed for the NCAAs the
week earlier by placing third at 149 pounds at the
Pac-12 Championships.
“What we personally
like about the Raiders is
the offensive line. They
haven’t been playing
around.“
— Nelson Peterson
Father of free agent NFL run-
ning back Adrian Peterson, 31,
confi rming his son’s interest in
playing for Oakland. The elder
Peterson told the St. Paul-Pioneer
Press that the New England Patri-
ots are his son’s fi rst choice, and
the Seattle Seahawks are also a
team he’s interested in. NFL free
agency begins on Thursday.
Oregon paid ex-football assistant
$63,000 for one-day tenure
EUGENE (AP) — University of Oregon
football co-offensive coordinator David Reaves
spent little more than a day on the job but was
paid more than $60,000.
The Register-Guard reported
Tuesday that Reaves received
$3,750 for 26 hours of work
when he resigned Feb. 3 after
being arrested on suspicion of driving under
the infl uence. According to UO documents
obtained through a public records request, he
also received a payment of $60,000.
UO announced it hired Reaves on Jan. 17.
Reaves had a two-year contract with an annual
salary of $300,000. On Jan. 22, Reaves was
arrested and charged with DUI, reckless driving
and reckless endangerment.
UO put Reaves on leave and was termi-
nating his contract when he resigned.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1971 — Joe Frazier wins
the world heavyweight title
with a unanimous 15-round
decision over Muhammad Ali.
2008 — Lindsey Vonn
wins her 10th career World
Cup downhill to break the U.S.
record held by Picabo Street
and Daron Rahlves. Vonn
breaks the record in 1:23.57 on
the 1.4-mile course.
2013 — The Big East
Conference announces the
departure of DePaul, George-
town, Marquette, Providence,
St. John’s, Seton Hall and
Villanova, allowing them to
separate from the football
schools and create their own
conference on July 1.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com