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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 2017)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Friday, December 15, 2017 PENDLETON Buckaroos’ skid continues with third straight loss Pendleton gets little going against Wilsonville By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ East Oregonian PENDLETON — After Pendleton’s third consec- utive loss Thursday night, there was little to Basketball smile about. T h e Buckaroos invited the Wilsonville Wilsonville Wildcats to Warberg Court for their second Pendleton home game in just as many days and with it endured a 72-46 beating — taking little away from their 26-point loss. “I don’t have any posi- tives,” head coach Kevin Porter said after the game. The Wildcats had plenty of momentum, coming into town perfect so far in the young season. With the win, Wilsonville pushed its record to 5-0 and sunk the Bucks (1-5) while doing so. Pendleton has played some of its better basketball in the second half to start the year, but against Wilsonville, the Bucks best performance would come in the opening quarter. Senior forward Kalan McGlothan made her fi rst start of the season in her second game back from injury. Porter labeled her the difference maker, but it will take some time before McGlothan gets comfortable on the court. “She can be a difference maker but it certainly wasn’t that tonight,” he said.” Instead, fellow senior Jaiden Lemberger had another team-best perfor- mance, scoring six of her 72 46 Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton’s Maureen Davies shoots the ball over Wil- sonville’s Kayla Hieb during the Bucks 72-46 loss to the Wildcats on Thursday in Pendleton. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton’s Jaiden Lemberger drives on Wilsonville’s Teagan McNamee during the Bucks’ 72-46 loss to the Wildcats on Thursday in Pendleton. 15 total points in the fi rst quarter. Lemberger’s efforts left the Bucks toe-to-toe with the Wildcats after the fi rst eight minutes of play as Wilsonville held a narrow 13-11 lead. Entering the second quarter, the teams traded points until Pendleton became stagnant allowing Wilsonville to take control after a 15-7 run. The Wildcats entered halftime up 35-24, and from then on it was Wilsonville’s for the taking. Pendleton’s Achilles heel was its inability to secure the ball off the pass. Most of the Wildcats steals happened mid-air as a Buck lobbed it to a teammate unsuccess- fully. After the break, Lemberger sunk a long 3-pointer to cut Pendleton’s defi cit to 11 points and on the its next position, McGlothan converted an and-one to bring some life back into the Bucks offense. Three plays later Lemberger hit another three to bring Pendleton within 8-points of Wilsonville. Unfortunately for the Bucks, the 43-35 defi cit was as close as they would get to the Wildcats the rest of the night. Another big run from Wilsonville — 18-0 lasting 10 minutes — sealed its fi fth consecutive win. For Wilsonville, junior Emily Scanlan led the night with a game-high 16 points. Fellow juniors Reese Timm and Teagan McNamee each chipped in 12 points. Timm did the most damage at the charity stripe by making three of her four free throw attempts while McNamee’s presence in the paint was nearly unstoppable. The Bucks will work through their miscues and hopefully have things click by the time they get back on the court. “We’re just going to continue to do what we’ve been doing,” Porter said. Pendleton will have until Monday, when it travels to South Albany for a 7 p.m. tipoff. ——— WHS 13 22 21 16 — 72 PHS 11 13 11 11 — 46 WILSONVILLE — E. Scanlan 16, T. McNamee 12, R. Timm 12, C. Gutridge 10, S. Burns 6, E. Bishop 6, J. Classen 5, A. Morris 3, K. Hieb 2. PENDLETON — J. Lemberger 15, U. Guerrero 11, K. McGlothan 11, R. Genter 5, S. Spriet 2, M. Davies 2. 3-pointers — WHS 8, PHS 5. Free throws — WHS 6-12, PHS 13-22. Fouls — WHS 22 (Bishop fouled out), PHS 15. ——— Contact Alexis at aman- sanarez@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4542. Follow her on Twitter @almansanarez. Pro Football Osweiler’s strong relief appearance leads Broncos past Colts By MICHAEL MAROT Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS — Denver quarterback Brock Osweiler ran for one touchdown and threw for two more Thursday night to lead the Broncos past Indianapolis 25-13. Osweiler replaced the injured Trevor Siemian in the fi rst quarter and played his best football of the season. The Broncos (5-9) needed it. After ending an eight-game losing streak Sunday, they picked up their fi rst road win since Dec. 4, 2016. For Indianapolis (3-11), it was more of the same. The Colts blew an early 10-0 lead and have now lost fi ve in a row, the longest skid of coach Chuck Paga- no’s six-year tenure. Osweiler looked more like the player Denver envi- sioned when it drafted him in the second round in 2012, and the guy who fi lled in for an injured Peyton Manning during the Broncos’ 2015 Super Bowl season. NFL Denver Indianapolis 25 13 He was 12 of 17 with 194 yards and took the Broncos on three second-half scoring drives — giving the league’s top-rated defense more than enough points. “He played with great poise. He played great, clean football and it led to a win,” Denver coach Vance Joseph said. “It’s just fun to win.” C.J. Anderson ran 30 times for a season high 158 yards. But it was a rugged night. Siemian went to the locker room with a sprained left shoulder after Barkev- ious Mingo drove him into the ground on the Broncos’ second series. Siemian did not return and it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to play at Washington on Dec. 24. The scariest moment came with 14:01 left in the second quarter when AP Photo/Darron Cummings Denver Broncos tight end Jeff Heuerman (82), center right, celebrates his touchdown with Brock Osweiler (17), left, Garett Bolles (72), center left, and Connor Mc- Govern (60) during the second half of Thursday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts in Indianapolis. Denver linebacker Deion- trez Mount appeared to make helmet-to-helmet contact with Colts tight end Brandon Williams on a punt. Williams was knocked over backward and stayed on the ground as players from both teams watched trainers and doctors strap him to a backboard and removed his facemask. When Williams was lifted onto a golf cart, Williams’ teammates came over to offer support. Coach Chuck Pagano said afterward that Williams had a concussion and was back in the team’s training room after initially being taken to a local hospital. “We erred on the side of caution and rightfully so, taking care of him,” Pagano said. “But he’s back here, he’s doing well.” Otherwise, the game between two non-playoff teams went pretty much as expected. After Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett scored on a 7-yard run and Adam Vinatieri made it 10-0 with a 45-yard fi eld goal midway through the second quarter, all Indy could muster was a 39-yard fi eld goal early in the third. Osweiler, meanwhile, got the Broncos in sync. He capped a 75-yard drive with an 18-yard TD run to make it 10-7 at half- time, then gave Denver the lead with a 22-yard TD pass to Cody Latimer 4:16 left in the third quarter. Osweiler added a 54-yard TD pass to Jeff Heuerman and a 2-point conversion pass to Latimer to make 22-13 and Brandon McManus sealed the victory with a 40-yard fi eld goal. KEY NUMBERS Broncos: Osweiler’s TD pass to Heuerman ended an 18-game regular-season streak without a 50-yard completion and a 13-game regular season streak without a TD pass of 40 more yards. ... Emanuel Sanders had seven catches for 68 yards and Demaryius Thomas had fi ve catches for 69 yards. Colts: Brissett was 17 of 30 with 158 yards. ... Indy had 228 yards in offense. ... T.Y. Hilton caught fi ve passes for 41 yards. ... Indy fell to 2-5 at home and will have its fi rst losing season at home in Pagano’s tenure. GORED Colts running back Frank Gore added to his milestone career on a night it looked like he might not even fi nish. The 34-year-old running back left during the second quarter with a knee injury. When he returned for the start of the second half, he quickly became the second player in league history to post 1,000 yards from scrimmage in 12 consecu- tive seasons. Only Emmitt Smith (13) has more. Gore fi nished with 10 carries for 31 yards and remains fi fth on the NFL’s career rushing list. Men’s College Basketball UCLA basketball moving on past scrutiny of Ball family era By JILL PAINTER LOPEZ Associated Press LOS ANGELES — The Ball family was one and done at UCLA. However, the ramifi cations of doing business with Lonzo, LiAn- gelo, LaMelo and father LaVar could have a lasting impact on the program. LiAngelo Ball — the younger brother of Lakers rookie guard Lonzo Ball — was pulled out of school by LaVar months after the shoplifting scandal in China and signed with the professional team Vytautas Prienai in Lithuania. LaMelo Ball, the youngest of the three brothers still in high school, signed with the same team thus giving up his eligibility to play in college. LaMelo had committed to play for UCLA as did his two older brothers. Lonzo is the only one who played in a UCLA uniform and he was an All-America as a freshman. “Well, I really had one,” coach Steve Alford said of the Ball era. “Lonzo, obviously, was terrifi c. The time I coached Lonzo was incred- ible. Very respectful young man. Somebody that didn’t miss class. On court, off court was incredible. Became a good leader by the time it was over with. Knew what you’d get out of him. Made people better. Knew he was one-and-done the day he stepped on campus and never acted that way. You didn’t see entitlement that sometimes you see in kids like that. He was a complete joy to coach.” No one knew the Ball family impact in Pauley would be so short- lived. LiAngelo Ball worked out with his teammates in the summer and for fi ve weeks of practice but never played in a game because of the indefi nite suspension over the shoplifting that caused an interna- tional incident that went all the way to President Trump. LaVar pulled him out of UCLA recently because he wanted him to play basketball. LiAngelo and his teammates — Jalen Hill and Cody Riley — were all serving indefi nite suspensions. Alford believes that could be resolved soon, whether Hill and Riley could rejoin the team this season or not. “It’s not done, but we’ve heard the process is nearing an end,” Alford said Thursday. “My hope is we’ll hear something if not the end of this week by early next week.” The UCLA Offi ce of Student Conduct has done the review and deciphering that code will deter- mine the players’ fates. Alford said he wasn’t involved in the interview process as part of that review and didn’t have input on what decision is made. Once the decision is relayed, he’ll have input in how things are handled moving forward. “It’s just one more of those distractions we get behind us,” Alford said. “The guys in the locker room have had nothing to do with any of it ... This young team has had to deal with a lot and yet they’re 7-2 and playing well.” Because of NCAA recruiting rules, Alford wasn’t able to talk about LaMelo Ball and the fact he no longer will play for the Bruins. “It’s just the way it is,” Alford said. “It’s something that happened. It’s the 2019-2020 class. There’s all kinds of time. Right now, all of our attention is fi nishing the ‘18 class. ... Even trying to project what the 2019 class is going to look like is hard for a lot of reasons. One, the one-and-done. And two, on the table and looks like something is going to pass relatively soon, eliminate one-and-dones. ... The 2019 class is two years out from playing here, so that gives us plenty of time.” LiAngelo wasn’t at UCLA long enough to have an impact or even show up in career statistics. “When Gelo was here, he was terrifi c,” Alford said. “Through the summer, through his academics and through coaching him on the court. He was tremendous. He was late one time, and he came in in frantic, apologizing and took his responsibility of it. Those are things you appreciate as a coach. I have no issues that way. Obviously, with Gelo and Melo, just wishing them the very best of luck. I hope things really work out well for them. Just like Lonzo, I hope they have terrifi c careers.”