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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2017)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Friday, October 27, 2017 Basketball MLS Playoffs Griffin’s buzzer-beater sinks Blazers Houston wins in extra time to advance By NICK DASCHEL Associated Press PORTLAND — Blake Griffin made a 3-pointer as time expired and the Los Angeles Clippers remained unbeaten with a NBA 104-103 victory over the Port- L.A. Clippers land Trail Blazers on Thursday night. Griffin, who scored 16 of his Portland 25 points d u r i n g the fourth quarter, got the ball on the left side of the floor and hit the 3-pointer just inside the line, the game’s sixth lead change during the final two minutes. DeAndre Jordan had seven points and 18 rebounds for Los Angeles, which at 4-0 is one of two unbeaten teams remaining in the NBA. Danilo Gallinari and Austin Rivers had 16 points apiece for the Clippers. Damian Lillard scored 14 of his 25 points during the third quarter for Portland (3-2). C.J. McCollum had 23 points, but missed one of two free throws with five seconds remaining that could have given the Blazers a three- point lead. All five Portland starters Dynamo to face Timbers in semis Associated Press 104 103 AP Photo/Steve Dykes Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin drives to the basket on Portland Trail Blazers forward Ed Davis during the first quarter of Thursday’s game in Portland. scored in double figures. Ed Davis had 10 rebounds. Neither team led by more than five points in the fourth quarter was a tight battle where neither team led by more than five points. Portland wiped out an 89-84 deficit when a clear-path foul led to a five-point possession for Al-Farouq Aminu. Griffin gave the Clippers a 101-100 lead with a minute to play, but McCollum put the Blazers in front when he hit an uncontested 12-foot jumper with 44 seconds remaining. Following an offensive foul by Rivers with five seconds left, McCollum made 1 of 2 free throws, opening the door for Griffin’s winner. The Clippers never trailed in the first half after Gallinari hit two free throws for a 14-13 lead. Portland’s shooting problems were part of the issue, as the Blazers hit just 10 of their first 35 shots. The Blazers closed within two points twice during the second quarter, but Los Angeles always had an answer. The Clippers outscored Portland 9-3 during the final three minutes to take a 62-53 halftime lead. TIP-INS Blazers: Forward Meyers Leonard sat out after spraining his right ankle during Wednes- day’s practice. Portland has lost seven consecutive games to the Clippers . Before the game, Lillard was honored as the 2016-17 Magic Johnson Award winner, given by the Professional Basketball Writers Association to a player who combined on-court performance with dignity and cooperation in dealing with the public and media. UP NEXT: Blazers: Hosts Phoenix on Saturday. HOUSTON — Alberth Elis scored his 11th goal of the season in the 94th minute and the Houston Dynamo made it stand in the second extra period for a 1-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Thursday night. Houston, which is undefeated in its last seven games, advanced to the Western Conference semi- finals to face the Portland Timbers. Vicente Sanchez dribbled alone along the right side, cut back his defender to get inside the 18-yard box near the end line and found Elis alone at the penalty spot for a calm finish. The Dynamo improved to 13-1-4 at home this season. Sporting KC, winless in its last six matches, was again without one of its best players in goalkeeper Tim Melia, who went down with a hamstring injury on Oct. 7. Backup Andrew Dykstra started his fourth game of the season and denied Sanchez’s penalty kick on the final play of the game. Houston was without 30-game starter A.J. DeLaGarza due to an injury last Sunday. Eastern Conference CREW BEAT ATLANTA UNITED — Twenty-two-year-old Zack Steffen made a career- high eight saves and the Columbus Crew advanced in the MLS Cup playoffs by besting expansion club Atlanta United 3-1 on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw on Thursday night in front of a MLS playoff-re- cord crowd of 67,221. It was the second knock- out-round game to reach extra time in MLS history after Portland and Sporting Kansas City went to penalty kicks in 2015. Steffen dove to his right to deny the opening penalty kick and Federico Higuain scored for the Crew. Atlan- ta’s second attempt went directly to Steffen as he stood tall in the middle of the goal and Jeff Larento- wicz hit the post on United’s fourth try. Adam Jahn won it for the Crew after entering as a substitute in the 120th minute. Columbus, which is unbeaten in its last 11 games, advanced to play New York City FC in the Eastern Conference semifi- nals. Atlanta was the third expansion team to qualify for the playoffs in its first season. CROSS COUNTRY: Pendleton boys, girls teams both finish in fourth place Continued from 1B race.” Hood River Valley won the boys team title with 33 points and The Dalles finished in second place with 40 points. Hermiston missed out on a team qualification to state with a third place finish with 53 points and Pendleton finished in fourth place with 119. However, senior Emmanuel Ibarra will join Sanchez at state after finishing in fifth place indi- vidually on Thursday with a time of 16:49.4. Pendleton’s top finishers were senior Nick Oja in 21st with a time of 18:04.2 and senior Richard Scott in 23rd with a time of 18:28.2. On the girls side, Hermiston senior Melany Solorio (19:34.1), and freshmen Amanda Nygard (19:42.7) and Julianna Joyce (20:03.80) all earned top-10 finishes to help the Bulldog girls team finish second in the district and qualify as a team for the state meet. Solorio, who finished in fourth place with a time of 19:34.1, said that qualifying for state was one of their biggest goals of the season in Hermiston’s final year in the OSAA. “It feels really great, wonderful,” Solorio said happily. “Since the start we’ve said ‘We have to go’ and we really wanted to because we haven’t been in Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton’s Rylee Harris competes during the Columbia River Conference district meet on Thursday in Mission. a few years and it feels really good.” All three Bulldogs also improved their times from last week’s meet, though it wasn’t enough to catch the Hood River Valley trio of Josephine Dickenson (19:18.7), Frances Dick- enson (19:20.9), and Lottie Bromham (19:27.2) who took the top three spots indi- vidually. Hood River Valley also won the girls team title with 23 points, while Herm- iston was second with 46, The Dalles third with 55 and Pendleton fourth with 108. Pendleton’s top two finishers were junior Rylee Harris in 17th with a time of 21:16.0 and freshman Jordyn Murphy with a time of 21:26.2. The OSAA 5A State Championship will take place on Nov. 4 at Lane Community College in Eugene. ———— District Meet Results Boys Team Scores 1. Hood River Valley, 33; 2. The Dalles, 40; 3. Hermiston, 53; 4. Pendleton, 119. Girls Team Scores 1. Hood River Valley, 23; 2. Hermiston, 46; 3. The Dalles, 55; 5. Pendleton, 108. Hermiston Individual (BOYS) 1. Isaac Sanchez, 16:11.1; 5. Eman- uel Ibarra, 16:49.4; 12. Gregory Anderson, 17:22.2; 16. Angel Benites, 17:38.3; 19. Freddy Ibarra, 17:53.2; 20. Martin Heredia, 17:57.9; 22. Nicholas Breshears, 18:24.3. (GIRLS) 4. Melany Solorio, 19:34.1; 5. Amanda Nygard, 19:42.7; 10. Julianna Joyce, 20:03.8; 11. Sheila Solorio, 20:17.4; 16. Sidney Tovey, 21:08.7; 22. Faith Bartch, 22:02.2; 25. Morgan Hancock, 22:11.7. Pendleton Individual (BOYS) 21. Nick Oja, 18:04.2; 23. Richard Scott, 18:28.2; 24. Michael Brooks, 18:50.2; 25. Vitor Pedrosa, 19:05.2; 26. Curtis Simons, 19:09.7; 27. Wylie Wyant, 19:10.0; 28. Leighton Redcrane, 19:30.8. (GIRLS) 17. Rylee Harris, 21:16.0; 18. Jordyn Murphy, 21:26.2; 23. Katie Beach, 22:05.4; 24. Ashlee Zaugg, 22:07.0; 26. Kendall Bonzani, 22:39.5; 27. Sidney Schreier, 22:47.2; 28. Starr Redcrane, 22:57.4. ———— Contact Eric at esinger@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0839. FOOTBALL: Hermiston has its eyes on Top-4 spot in 5A, Buckaroos need win to clinch playoffs Continued from 1B AP Photo/Timothy J. Gonzalez Oregon State running back Ryan Nall (34) tries to get past Stanford’s Justin Reid (8) during the first half of Thursday’s game in Corvallis. BEAVERS: Face Cal next Continued from 1B Stanford was flagged for roughing Garretson on the Beavers’ first series of the second half. On the same play, Cardinal cornerback Alijah Holder left the game with an apparent knee injury and inside linebacker Joey Alfieri was ejected from the game for targeting. The Beavers went on to cap the drive with Thomas Tyner’s touchdown run to go up 14-6. The mistakes continued for Stanford on the next possession when Oregon State’s Omar Hicks-Onu intercepted Chryst’s pass. But the Beavers missed a 52-yard field goal attempt that would have extended their lead. Toner kicked a 40-yard field goal to narrow the score to 14-9 at the end of the third quarter. A midseason AP All-American, Love has run for 1,387 total yards this season and is averaging 10.27 yards per carry — both also national bests. He ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns in Stanford’s 49-7 victory at home over the Ducks. The Cardinal are facing a challenging stretch, on the road at No. 15 Washington State next week, followed by No. 12 Washington at home. The leading rusher for Stanford in Love’s place was Cameron Scarlett, who grew up in Portland, Oregon, and went to Central Catholic High School — the same school as Oregon State running back Ryan Nall. Scarlett finished with 72 yards rushing. Chryst completed 16 of 33 passes for 141 yards with the final touchdown and the interception, but Stanford managed just 222 yards of total offense. The Beavers have played with spirit in the two games since the departure of Andersen. Oregon State challenged Colorado but ultimately fell 36-33 on Oct. 14, five days after the school parted ways with Andersen. THE TAKEAWAY: Oregon State: Nall has moved into 10th place for career rushing yards at Oregon State. He finished with 84 yards against the Cardinal ... The Beavers have an eight-game losing streak in the series. UP NEXT: Stanford plays at Wash- ington State next Saturday. Oregon State visits Cali- fornia next Saturday. another football game. We respect the tradition, respect the rivalry.” Historically, the rivalry has been one-sided toward Pendleton as the Bucka- roos won 69 of the first 72 meetings between the schools. But Hermiston has overtaken Pendleton over the past decade and has won five straight games and Pendleton’s senior class would love nothing more than to snap that streak and clinch a playoff spot in the same night. “It would mean every- thing to every senior,” Pendleton senior defensive back Brendan Bedolla said. “All through our high school career we haven’t beaten Hermiston in football and to go out on top one last time would be a lifelong memory.” “It’d be huge,” added senior wide receiver Tanner Stephan. “It’s the last time we get to play them (Herm- iston), we’re the last people to get to play them and that means we have to win this game. We have to bring it home for our parents and all the previous generations of Buckaroos, we have to bring it home for everybody.” A loss to Hermiston will not completely dash Pend- leton’s playoff hopes, but it would require some help from a few teams. Currently, Pendleton and Bend are tied at 4-2 in the district, with Pendleton in third and Bend in fourth with the Buckaroos’ head-to-head tiebreak, and Summit sits just one game back at 3-3. If a Pendleton loss is coupled with a Summit loss to Hood River Valley, the Buckaroos would still be in. A Pend- leton loss with a Bend upset over Mountain View and a Summit win would push Pendleton out. The most complicated scenario would be a Pend- leton loss, plus a Bend loss to Mountain View and a Summit win would make a three-way tie for third at 4-3. The tiebreaker for third place will be the team with the highest OSAA ranking, and then the fourth place team will be decided with a head-to-head tiebreak. The only way Pendleton misses out in that case, is if Bend has the highest ranking and takes third, giving Summit the fourth spot. But the Buckaroos know the easiest way for them is to just go out and win. “We just have to stay focused and think that if we don’t win this, then it’s over in a sense,” Stephan said. “You just have to go in with your hair on fire, play every play like it’s our last and give it our all and make sure we win.” Hermiston is looking to do the same, but a win for the Bulldogs will simply boost their seed entering the postseason. Their fate has been sealed, as Hermiston has maintained its hold on to second place in the league. However, the Bulldogs won’t enter this game lightly. That’s just not their style. “We’ve been telling the guys that every single game is a playoff game,” head coach David Faaeteete said at the Linebackers Club luncheon on Thursday. “In order to get seeded where we want to, we have to win all of our games.” With a win Hermiston can jump as high as No. 4 in the OSAA’s 5A rankings, and host a playoff game — possibly two, and that’s all the Bulldogs can hope for. “That’s what the kids want,” Faaeteete added. “They want to play at home one more time, they want to host.” It is unlikely that the Bulldogs will be able to break into the top three but again, if there’s an upset it could be possible. Herm- iston currently sits at No. 5 in the rankings. In front of the Bulldogs are No. 1 Mountain View, No. 2 Cres- cent Valley, No. 3 Churchill and No. 4 Wilsonville. An undefeated No. 1 and 2 team will likely come away with a victory, but Churchill and Wilsonville face teams that may give each a run for their money. If either losses, and Hermiston tops Pendleton then the Bulldogs can inch up the rankings before they freeze at 10 p.m. Friday. Hermiston will need every advantage it can get if the Bulldogs want to end their Farewell Tour with their last Oregon state title. The trip won’t be easy, though. The Bulldogs have only made it past Round 1 five times since 1991 — the most notable was during its 2014 championship season. “Their mantra this week — they see it as a big rivalry, but they understand they have bigger goals than this game,” Faaeteete said. “Their mantra has been prepare like we prepare for any other game and practice like we practice for any other game.” ———— Contact Eric Singer at esinger@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0839. Contact Alexis Mansanarez at amansanarez@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4542. GO BULLDOGS! GO BUCKS! 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