SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2017
1B
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NBA
Prep Roundup
Trail Blazers stuffed by Jazz
Mustangs
run wild
for win
Heppner softball
beats Umatilla in fi ve
East Oregonian
HEPPNER — The Heppner
softball team scored 11 runs in
the fi rst, and needed just fi ve
innings to earn a 29-1 win over
Umatilla in non-league play on
Tuesday.
The Mustangs (6-2) were
roping the ball
to the tune of
Softball 18 hits, and
fi ve players
combined for
15 of those.
Umatilla
Miranda
Lemmon was
4 for 5 with six
RBIs, Taylor
Hamby was 3
for 5 with fi ve
Heppner
RBIs, Dakota
Durfey and
Tresslyn
McCurry
were both 3 for 5 with four
RBIs, and Maggie Flynn went
2 for 3 with three RBIs and fi ve
runs.
Durfey also pitched the fi rst
fi ve innings before McCurry
closed out the fi fth to limit
1
29
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
See PREPS/2B
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) blocks the shot by Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, left, during the fi rst half in an NBA
basketball game Tuesday, April 4, 2017, in Salt Lake City.
Portland’s lead on fi nal playoff spot shrinks to just half game
By KAREEM COPELAND
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Smaller,
quicker guards have given the
Utah Jazz fi ts in many instances
this season. Tuesday wasn’t one of
them.
Gordon Hayward scored 30
points and Rudy Gobert added 20
points and 11 rebounds to lead the
Jazz to a 106-87 victory over the
Portland Trail Blazers.
The Jazz controlled the game
most of the night with a defensive
effort that bottled up everyone not
named C.J. McCollum, and the
Blazers never found a consistent
offensive fl ow.
“We have so
much respect for
their guards and
our guys know the
Portland
urgency it takes to
guard them,” Jazz
coach Quin Snyder
said. “So we’re
working hard. At the same time,
you have to be fortunate with those
guys. A lot of shots they missed
tonight, they’re capable of making.
“You kind of knock on wood a
little bit.”
On the other end, Hayward
was an effi cient 12 for 20 from the
fl oor, including 4 for 6 from behind
the arc. Gobert recorded his 57th
double-double and continued to
87
show his offensive
growth in the
pick-and-roll
game. He also had
Utah
three blocks and
constantly altered
shots in the paint.
“The way they
guarded me tonight, I was able to
get some looks early,” Hayward
said, “with the big being back
and so there was a lot of space to
operate. That got me going early.
“Rudy did a good job screening
them and freeing me, then I could
attack the big downhill and kind of
have whatever I wanted. Once you
see a couple shots go in, too, that
defi nitely makes you feel better.”
106
The Jazz opened the fourth
quarter with a 15-6 stretch to take a
90-70 lead that put away the game.
McCollum scored 25 for the
Blazers and Damian Lillard fi nished
with 16.
“I didn’t shoot the ball well,”
Lillard said. “Didn’t impact the
game as much as I would have
liked. ... They’re on a string out
there on the defensive end and they
made it tough for us. You got to give
them credit. But I also felt like I had
some looks I should have made, I
usually do make that I didn’t.
“We’re ready to go home and
fi nish the season out strong and
we know that we control what
See BLAZERS/2B
MLB
Two solo home runs enough for Astros to beat M’s
Seattle’s
Mitch
Haniger
(17) shakes
hands with
Leonys
Martin after
scoring a
run during
the fourth
inning of
Tuesday’s
game in
Houston.
Seattle leaves 10
runners on base in loss
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
Associated Press
HOUSTON — Brian McCann’s
focus this offseason was fi nding a
way to hit more balls to the opposite
fi eld like he used to earlier in his
career.
On Tuesday night against the
Mariners it paid off when he got
his fi rst hit with the Astros on an
opposite fi eld home run that helped
Houston to a 2-1 win.
“A lot of work went into this
offseason with my swing to be able
to do that,” he said. “Over the last
two years I’d just become a dead
pull hitter and I put a lot of hours in
the cage for that swing right there. I
AP Photo/Eric Chris-
tian Smith
was waiting for it to translate into a
real game ... so it was nice for it to
pay off tonight.”
Marwin Gonzalez added a solo
homer to back a solid start by Lance
McCullers and give the Astros their
second straight victory over Seattle
to start the season.
McCann’s homer off Hisashi
Iwakuma (0-1) put Houston up 1-0
in the third inning, and Gonzalez
broke a 1-all tie with his solo shot
Seattle
Houston
1
2
to left-center in the sixth inning.
McCullers (1-0), slowed by
injuries for chunks of last season,
allowed one run and fi ve hits while
fanning seven in six innings. It was
his fi rst start since August 2 after he
missed the last two months of last
year with an elbow injury.
“I felt really good most of the
start. I felt pretty locked in,” he
said. “I thought I was working the
fastball pretty good. The curveball
mix was pretty good. I mixed in a
couple changeups along the way, so
it was good.”
Will Harris pitched a perfect
See MARINERS/2B
HERMISTON
EOTEC
is ready
to rumble
Pro wrestling event
bringing former WWE,
UFC stars to Hermiston
East Oregonian
The WWE wrapped up its
biggest event of the year over
the weekend, as many top stars
put on quite the show at Wres-
tlemania 33 in front of 75,000
fans in Orlando,
Florida.
On Saturday,
April 15 a few
former WWE
personalities
will try to bring
the same energy
Anderson
to wrestling fans
here in Eastern
Oregon.
Prestige
Championship
Wrestling,
a
newly-formed
professional
wrestling
Masters
promotional
company based in Hermiston,
is putting on its fi rst event, Pres-
tige Championship Wrestling
1, at the Eastern Oregon Trade
and Events Center. The event
will feature the likes of former
WWE stars Ken Anderson and
Chris Masters, who competed
for the top professional wres-
tling company in the mid 2000s,
See WRESTLING/2B
Sports shorts
Tony Romo retires, joins CBS Sports
DALLAS (AP) — Tony Romo is retiring
from the Dallas Cowboys to replace another
former quarterback in Phil Simms as lead
analyst for CBS.
The network announced Tuesday that Romo
will be paired with Jim Nantz
on Thursday night and Sunday
games next season. The former
10-year starter considered multiple
network offers while also deciding
whether to keep playing after
losing the Dallas job to rookie Dak
Prescott last season.
Romo
The departure of the all-time
passing leader has been expected since
November, when Romo conceded the job after
missing 10 weeks with a back injury.
CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said
the network planned to keep Simms and was
working on fi nding another role for their lead
analyst the past 19 seasons.
“It’s something that I
could never dream about
growing up in the inner
city of Los Angeles. I
never dreamed about a
moment like this, to be
able to be on this stage.“
— Russell Westbrook
Oklahoma City Thunder guard
after tying Oscar Robertson’s
single-season record with his 41st
triple-double in a 110-79 win over
Milwaukee on Tuesday. Westbrook
had 12 points, 13 rebounds and
13 assists. It was his 78th career
triple-double, matching Wilt
Chamberlain for fourth all-time.
Oregon State baseball wins
20th consecutive game
PORTLAND — The Oregon State baseball
team just keeps on winning.
Coming off of a sweep of the Stanford
Cardinal over the weekend, the
top-ranked Beavers beat Portland
4-3 on Tuesday evening in a
non-conference game. It marks
the 20th consecutive victory for the Beavers
(25-1), extending their school record.
The Pilots did make the Beavers nervous
for a bit on Tuesday, holding a 3-2 lead over
the Beavers after fi ve innings. However in the
sixth, Oregon State’s Adley Rutschman ripped
a pinch-hit single to bring in a pair of runs
which put the Beavers on top for good at 4-3.
Oregon State’s pitching staff tied a school
record with 18 strikeouts, led by Brandon Eisert
who struck out nine in 3 1/3 innings of relief.
Oregon State next opens a three-game series
against Utah on Friday.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1972 — Major league base-
ball fails to open for because of
a players’ strike. It starts April
1 and ends April 13.
1984 — Kareem Abdul-
Jabbar hits a sky hook with
8:53 left in the Los Angeles
Lakers’ 129-115 victory over
the Utah Jazz to become the
NBA’s top career scorer. Wilt
Chamberlain, with 31,419
points, held the record since
his retirement in 1973.
2010 — Duke wins
its fourth national men’s
basketball
championship
holding off Butler 61-59 and
surviving Gordon Hayward’s
last second desperation shot
that clangs off the rim.
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