Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 2017)
SPORTS FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Oregon forward Dillon Brooks, left, cel- ebrates with Jordan Bell after a regional semifinal against Michigan in the NCAA men’s college basketball tourna- ment, Thursday, March 23, 2017, in Kansas City, Mo. Oregon won 69-68. Men’s College Basketball Ducks end Michigan’s run Three-pointer at buzzer won’t fall for Wolverines By ERIC OLSON Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tyler Dorsey’s teammates call him “Mr. March.” Yeah, that fits. Dorsey scored 20 points and made the go-ahead layup with 1:08 left, and third-seeded Oregon held on to end No. 7 Michigan’s dramatic postseason run with a 69-68 victory in a Midwest Regional semifinal on Thursday night. “We lean on him right now,” the Ducks’ Dylan Ennis said. “He’s playing his best basketball, and this whole season,” Sweet 16 it’s coming at the right Michigan coach John time.” Beilein said, “but Dorsey’s recent particularly this last Michigan Oregon surge has been timely, six weeks to be more for sure. He’s scored than a story. It was a 20 or more points in great team. They were six straight games, a becoming a great team stretch that has seen before the story. We Pac-12 player of the year Dillon weren’t sharp as we would have liked Brooks struggle with his shot. to have been today, but you have to Oregon didn’t have the win secured credit Oregon with that.” until Derrick Walton Jr., who had Jordan Bell had a double-double carried the Wolverines the last three for the Ducks, with 16 points and 13 weeks, was off with his long jumper rebounds. Brooks added 12 points and just before the buzzer. Ennis had 10. For the Ducks (32-5), it’s on to the Walton led the Wolverines with 20 Elite Eight for the second straight year. points, eight assists and five rebounds. For the Wolverines (26-12), it was Zak Irvin had 14 of his 19 points in the end of a wild ride. the second half and DJ Wilson had 12 “The kids fought their hearts out points. 68 69 AP Photo/Charlie Riedel PENDLETON Bulldogs win big at Track Classic Hermiston boys, girls each earn team wins By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian Twenty five high school track teams from across Eastern Oregon and southeast Wash- ington descended on Pendleton High School for the 26th annual Buck Track Classic on Thursday afternoon, most of which were competing for the first time in the 2017 season. It was the largest group of competitors in the event’s history, according to Pendleton assistant coach Nicole Stewart, which made for a great — and long — day of competition for the local athletes. The athletes were also lucky that Mother Nature decided to be kind to them, after a rainy weather earlier in the week gave way to clear skies and sunny weather for the meet. “I was a little scared earlier (in the week), but thankfully the sun opened up,” Hermiston’s Tyler Rohrman said of the weather. “I’m just glad we’re running in the sun.” Out of the 25 teams, the Herm- iston Bulldogs walked away as team champions in both the girls and boys events with the help of a strong performance in the sprint events and in the field events on Thursday. On the girls side, Hermiston earned a whopping 164.42 points which was way ahead of second place Nyssa (80.42) and third place Pendleton (54.84). And for the boys, Hermiston won with 141 points while La Grande followed Staff photo by Kathy Aney Hayden Scott, of Weston-McEw- en, and Hermiston’s Isaac San- chez come around the final turn of the 1,500-meter run on Thurs- day at the Buck Track Classic. Sanchez edged ahead of Scott for the win, clocking 4:17.50. Staff photo by Kathy Aney Madison Wilson, of Hermiston, leads the pack in the 100-meter hurdles during Thursday’s Buck Track Classic in Pendleton. in second with 115 points, Weston- McEwen (59) finished third and Pendleton (52.5) in fourth. Rohrman, who won the boys 100 meter hurdles by more than half a second with a time of 15.33, said that competing in a meet with 25 teams early in the season can pay big dividends for the athletes. “It helps you really get into track season,” he said. “You go to a dual meet and it’s just two teams, it goes UMATILLA by really fast, but here it teaches you to manage your body, your time and to know when to warm up. “And to deal with the atmosphere because this is totally different with a lot more people here watching and it’s a lot of what we’ll deal with later in the season.” In the running events, Hermiston came away with wins in the boys and girls 100 meters, girls 200 meters, girls 400 meters, boys 1500 meters, boys 110 meter hurdles, girls 100 meter hurdles, both girls relay races as well as the boys 4x100 relay. And in the field, Hermiston See TRACK/2B Prep Roundup Greb, Snodgrass claim titles at Big River Pendleton, Three-way playoff decides boys’ champion By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian With its straightforward layout and short fairways, Big River Golf Course proved deceptively tough for participants at the Bulldog Invitational on a sunny Thursday by the banks of the Columbia. Without too many hazards, the players’ mental approach became amplified, and those that overlooked the par-70 course paid with high scores. No golfers broke par, and 75 was the lowest score to be turned in. Four golfers hit that mark as Pendleton’s Haley Greb won the girls’ title, and The Dalles’s Chase Snodgrass won a two-hole playoff against Hermiston’s Jared Thacker and Pendleton’s Nathan Som for the boys’ title. Snodgrass, a senior, hit par on both extra holes while Thacker and Som fell behind with bogeys as they replayed hole No. 1. “I felt like I did what I could with the game that I had today,” said Thacker, a senior. “I felt like I gave away some strokes, but that’s golf.” He said after the way his first tee shot went, he was pretty happy to shoot 75 on a day several players came into the clubhouse complaining about hard greens. “It could have been a bad day. I hit it out bounds and I was like, ‘Aw shucks. Well, come turn it around.’ And that’s what I did,” he said. “We were prepared but my putting was a little off today, but I also made some pretty sweet ones. I was able to knock in (two) birdies which was pretty exciting for me.” Som’s greatest challenge of the round was pace of play as a bottleneck had his group doing a lot of waiting around. He was in the second boys’ See GOLF/2B Herim- ston’s Jared Thacker hits from the tee on the second playoff hole in the Bulldog Invitation- al at Big River Golf Course on Thursday in Umatilla. Thacker fin- ished tied for second. Staff photo by Matt Entrup Irrigon softball stay undefeated Richards strikes out 14 for Buckaroos to beat Southridge East Oregonian KENNEWICK, Wash. — Pendleton junior Lauren Richards turned in another stellar performance in the circle, and also scored the game-winning run when her catcher laid down a perfect squeeze bunt in the top of the seventh inning as the Buckaroos remained undefeated with a 3-1 win at Southridge on Thursday. Richards allowed just one hit and struck out 14 batters, and with the game knotted at 1-1 going into the seventh she came up and hit a lead-off double. Rylee Gentner then was hit by a pitch to give them runners on first and second, and Aspen Garton moved both over with a sacrifice bunt. Solomon followed with her bunt RBI, and Gentner would add the final See PREP/2B
