Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, December 2, 2017
Men’s College Basketball
Tillie, Norvell lift No. 15 Zags over No. 25 Creighton
Gon-
zaga
forward
Killian
Tillie,
left,
shoots
against
Creigh-
ton
guard
Mitchell
Ballock
during
the first
half of
Friday’s
game in
Spo-
kane,
Wash.
Tillie leads with
22 points, Norvell
adds 21 points
By NICHOLAS K.
GERANIOS
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. —
Killian Tillie scored 22
points and Zach Norvell
Jr. added 21 points, all in
the second half, as No. 15
Gonzaga came back to beat
No. 25 Creighton 91-74 on
Friday night.
Silas Melson also scored
21 points and Johnathan
Williams added 15 for
Gonzaga (7-1).
Marcus Foster had 21
points for Creighton (5-2),
which has already beaten
No. 20 Northwestern and
No. 23 UCLA and lost to
AP Photo/
Young Kwak
College Football
NCAA
#25 Creighton #15 Gonzaga
74
91
No. 22 Baylor this season.
Gonzaga shot better than
62 percent in the second half
to erase a 7-point halftime
deficit.
Gonzaga went on a 20-4
run to open the second
half and built a 57-48 lead.
Creighton had five turnovers
during the run.
Consecutive 3-pointers
by Norvell put Gonzaga up
63-53.
Norvell hit two more
3s to push Gonzaga’s lead
to 81-71 with less than 5
minutes left. Gonzaga grad-
ually extended the lead. The
Zags outscored the Bluejays
54-30 in the second.
The first half was nip
and tuck for most of the 20
minutes. Creighton hit four
consecutive 3-pointers late
in the first to take a 34-29
lead.
Gonzaga made a run, but
the Bluejays scored the last
five points to take a 44-37
lead. They shot 58 percent
in the first half, including 7
of 14 on 3-pointers, before
cooling off in the second.
Foster had 15 first-half
points for Creighton.
The teams, both from
Jesuit universities, have
not played since 1977 and
this is their first meeting in
Spokane.
Gonzaga continues to be
a hard opponent at home,
as the Bulldogs are 183-17
in the McCarthey Athletic
Center since it opened in
2004.
BIG PICTURE
Creighton: The Bluejays
were playing their fourth
ranked team in five outings.
Their schedule appears to
get easier going forward,
as they have five consec-
utive home games against
unranked opponents. The
Bluejays, of the Big East,
came in averaging 92.5
points per game, 10th in the
nation.
Gonzaga: This figured to
be the best non-conference
home game on the Bulldogs’
schedule. Gonzaga has six
players averaging at least
10 points per game. Starting
guard Corey Kispert did not
play because of an ankle
injury.
UP NEXT
Creighton hosts North
Dakota on Tuesday.
Gonzaga plays No. 4
Villanova, another Big East
team, at Madison Square
Garden in the Jimmy V
Classic on Tuesday.
College Football
Broncos, Bulldogs face off for second Fisher leaves Seminoles for Aggies
national title came
Last December,
straight week, this time for MWC title
in 1939. Texas
Fisher signed a
By JOE REEDY
Associated Press
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
Jeff Tedford has already
engineered one of the more
remarkable
turnarounds
in
college
Mtn. West f o o t b a l l
this season,
taking No. 25
Fresno State
Fresno State from one win
Bulldogs
(9-3, 7-1) a season ago
to the cusp of
a Mountain
West Confer-
Boise State ence title.
No matter
Broncos
(9-3, 7-1)
the outcome
• Saturday, of Saturday’s
MWC cham-
4:45 p.m.
• TV: ESPN p i o n s h i p
game against
Boise State,
it’s been a highly successful
first season for Tedford at his
alma mater.
“No matter where we
were to go, or who we were
to play, the goal starting out
is to have a chance to win the
conference championship,”
Tedford said. “We have
the opportunity right now
to go compete for that. We
have tremendous respect for
Boise State. It’s about the
game. It’s not about all the
other things, the where, the
what, all of that.”
Fair or not, if the Bull-
dogs (9-3, 7-1 MWC, No.
25 CFP) are to cap their
rebound season with the
title it will mean besting the
Broncos (9-3, 7-1) on their
blue turf just a week after
beating them in Fresno.
It’s a rare and unlikely
scheduling quirk that saw the
Bulldogs beat the Broncos
28-17 in the regular-season
finale and then have to turn
around and travel to Boise for
the title game. The Broncos
ended up hosting by having a
higher ranking in the average
of four computer rankings
even though the Bulldogs
are ranked in the AP Top 25 ,
the College Football Playoff
and won the head-to-head
regular-season meeting.
“It’s a new game, it’s a
different game. I’m fully
aware of their tradition
there, they’re (Boise State)
a great football team, and
they’re very tough at home,”
AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian, File
In this file photo, Fresno State’s Jeffrey Allison upends
Boise State’s running back Alexander Mattison during
a Nov. 25, 2017 game in Fresno, Calif.
Tedford said.
According to Fresno
State, this is just the second
time since 1935 that teams
have faced off in the regu-
lar-season finale and then
the conference title game
the following week. In
2012, Stanford and UCLA
met in the final week of the
regular season and again in
the conference title game.
Stanford won 35-17 in the
regular season and 27-24 in
the Pac-12 title game.
Fresno State would like
to see that scenario repeated.
Meanwhile, the Broncos
aren’t about to apologize for
getting an additional home
game even if the Bulldogs
seem more worthy of
hosting.
“The body of work that
we have put in this entire
season earned us the oppor-
tunity to have this game at
home, that’s the reality,”
Boise State coach Bryan
Harsin said.
Here are other things to
watch in Saturday’s rematch:
M A R V E L O U S
MARCUS: One of the
biggest reasons for Fresno
State’s turnaround has
been the emergence of
transfer quarterback Marcus
McMaryion. After starting
his career at Oregon State,
McMaryion has started
the past nine games for the
Bulldogs and led them to an
8-1 mark. McMaryion threw
for a career-high 332 yards
and two touchdowns last
week against the Broncos,
including an 81-yard strike
to KeeSean Johnson in
the fourth quarter after the
Broncos had trimmed the
lead to 19-17.
GROUND CONTROL:
Boise State saw its streak of
having a 1,000-yard rusher
extended to nine straight
seasons when Alexander
Mattison rushed for 63
yards last week, bringing his
season total to 1,024. But
it was the second straight
week that Mattison had been
held in check. He had just
42 yards in a victory over
Air Force. Mattison is only
two games removed from
a career-best 242 yards and
three touchdowns against
Colorado State.
SCORING DEFENSE:
While the improvement
of the Bulldogs offense
has drawn attention, their
defense has been equally
impressive. Fresno State has
allowed more than 21 points
to only one conference
opponent; UNLV had 26 in
the Bulldogs’ only confer-
ence loss. The Bulldogs shut
out New Mexico, held San
Diego State to three points
and allowed just seven to
Wyoming.
BEST OF MOUNTAIN
WEST: Boise State line-
backer Leighton Vander
Esch was named the Moun-
tain West defensive player of
the year this week. He was
third in the conference with
113 tackles along with three
sacks and two interceptions.
Vander Esch was the first
Boise State defensive player
to be honored as conference
player of the year since
Korey Hall in 2006.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —
Jimbo Fisher, who coached
Florida State to its third
national title in 2013 and
opened this season with his
team ranked in the top five,
is leaving to take the same
job at Texas A&M.
Fisher told university
President John Thrasher on
Friday that he was resigning
to accept Texas A&M’s
offer.
“I believe Texas A&M
is getting one of the best
coaches in college football.
We appreciate all he has
done for our program and
wish him and his family
great
success
moving
forward,” Thrasher said in
a statement that closed days
of speculation about Fisher’s
future.
Fisher leaves Florida
State after going 83-23 in
eight seasons. Besides the
national championship, he
also led the Seminoles to
three Atlantic Coast Confer-
ence titles and four ACC
Atlantic Division crowns. He
will replace Kevin Sumlin,
who was fired last weekend
after going 51-26 in six
seasons at Texas A&M. The
Houston Chronicle reported
that Fisher is expected to
earn between $7 million and
$7.5 million over at least five
years.
Fisher goes to a program
that has lofty hopes amid a
drought: Texas A&M last
won a conference champion-
ship in 1998, when it was in
the Big 12. The school’s only
that momentum as they entered the
third quarter and were up by as much
as 10 points before Hermiston sopho-
more Jazlyn Romero hit a 3-pointer at
the buzzer to end the third quarter and
cut the Bulldogs’ deficit to 40-33.
Again Romero proved to be an
asset following up her team-leading
12-point performance Wednesday
with nine points on Friday. This time
around it was junior Jordan Thomas
who had a team-high 12 points, and
senior Maddy Juul followed with 10
points.
“I’m pretty blessed, and I have
told the girls this, that we have the
team makeup to make a pretty deep
run,” Rodriguez said.
The talented core group of
girls — and the other two starters,
juniors Madison Wilson and Sydney
Stefani — were pushing the pace of
the game and playing aggressive on
both sides of the court. But with Juul
nursing a knee injury and Thomas’
presence in the paint putting her in
foul trouble, Hermiston looked to its
young bench to help with the load.
Unfortuately it was too heavy.
“I think what hurt us is when
we brought off girls off the bench,
they have low confidence right
now,” Rodriguez said. “So what we
just talked about was having that
confidence. They are on the team
for a reason and when they come in
they have to provide, they have to
be a positive for us and I think for
the most part, most of those girls
understand that.”
The team’s youth showed when
Thomas was subbed out after
tallying her fourth foul shortly after
the third quarter started. The 6-foot
3-inch forward shut Wilsonville
down in the low post, and with out
Thomas’ presence the Wildcats, at
times, easily made their way to the
basket.
But even with another quick
turnaround tomorrow, Rodriguez is
confident the girls will continue to
contract extension
through 2024 that
made him among
the highest-paid
coaches in the
country. He was
making
$5.7
million this season,
sixth-highest.
Sumlin
had
two years remaining on
his contract, which calls
for a $10 million buyout to
be paid within 60 days of
his termination. He led the
Aggies to an 11-2 record
in his first season in 2012,
including 6-2 in the South-
eastern Conference which
included a win at top-ranked
Alabama. Sumlin wasn’t
able to equal or surpass that
the rest of his tenure.
This marks the first time
since after the 1975 season
that Florida State has had
to embark on a coaching
search, when it went on
to hire Bobby Bowden.
Fisher came to Florida State
as offensive coordinator
in 2007 and was named
the head coach in waiting
following that season.
Possible candidates could
include Oregon’s Willie
Taggart and Virginia Tech’s
Justin Fuente. Taggart,
who grew up in Bradenton,
Florida, went 7-5 in his first
season at Oregon. He previ-
ously spent four seasons
at South Florida where he
took a team that was 2-10
in 2013 to 10-2 and a tie
for the American Athletic
Conference East Division
title in 2016.
BRIEFLY
Oregon, Nike
reach new apparel
sponsorship deal
EUGENE (AP) — The
University of Oregon
has reached a tentative
agreement with Nike that
increases sponsorship
to $88 million in cash
and gear, according to
university documents.
The university’s board
of trustees will consider
approving the 11-year deal
next week. The university
made the agreement
BULLDOGS: Thomas leads team with 12 points
Continued from 1B
A&M Chancellor
John Sharp said
after Thursday’s
Board of Regents
meeting
that
expectations were
“nothing serious.
We just want him
to win a national Fisher
championship.”
Fisher is just the fourth
head coach to leave a school
where he has won an AP
national championship and
go directly to another college
job. The last to do it was
Johnny Majors, who went
from Pittsburgh to Tennessee
in 1977.
Florida State (5-6) faces
Louisiana-Monroe
on
Saturday and needs a win
to be bowl eligible for a
36th consecutive season.
Defensive line coach Odell
Haggins will be the interim
coach.
The Seminoles were
ranked third in the preseason
Top 25 but lost quarter-
back Deondre Francois in
the opening loss against
Alabama and were 3-6 at
one point before winning
their last two. Florida State is
trying to avoid its first losing
season since 1976.
Since winning 33 of 34
games between 2013 and
‘15, the Seminoles have
struggled. They are 19-12 in
their last 31 games, including
10-10 in the ACC. It marks
the first time since 2011
that the Seminoles have not
won 10 or more games or
qualified for a New Year’s
Six bowl game.
improve.
“I’m just happy that we competed
and we played hard and that’s kind
of what I want,” he said. “Our
philosphy is uptempo, we’re going
to press and we’re going to get in the
passing lane. While the losing is not
ideal, I was actually kind of happy
with the way they played.”
The Hermiston Holiday Tourna-
ment continues with the Bulldogs
facing the Lewiston Bengals. The
school out of Idaho has already had
a few games under its belt, as its
season started mid-November.
———
WHS
4 21 15 15 — 55
HHS
15 8 10 13 — 46
WILSONVILLE — C. Gutridge 10, G. Bishop 9, T.
McNamee 8, J. Classen 8, R. Timm 7, S. Burns 6, E.
Scanlan 5.
HERMISTON — J. Thomas 12, M. Juul 10, J. Romero
9, M. Wilson 8, P. Palzinski 4, R. Meyers 2, A. Green 1.
3-pointers — WHS 4, HHS 4. Free throws — WHS
21-29, HHS 8-22. Fouls — WHS 18, HHS 25.
———
Contact Alexis at amansanarez@
eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4542.
Follow her on Twitter @alman-
sanarez.
description public on
Thursday, but the full
draft contract has not been
released, The Register-
Guard reported .
Under the new deal, the
university would receive $2
million annually from Nike
until 2023. The amount
would then increase to
$2.5 million each year until
2028.
The university would
also get $5 million in Nike
apparel each year, and it
would gradually increase to
$6 million for the 2022-23
school year.
Applied retroactively for
the start of this school year,
the university would receive
a $3 million signing bonus
under the new agreement.
Royalties the university
gets on some duck-themed
Nike merchandise would
increase from 12 to 15
percent.
Under the current deal
with Nike, the university
is receiving a base cash
payment of $600,000 and
$2.4 million in products this
school year.
Herm-
iston’s
Maddy
Juul
shoots
the ball
guarded
by Wil-
sonville’s
Jessica
Classen
in the
Bulldogs’
55-46
loss to
the Wild-
cats on
Friday in
Hermis-
ton.
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris