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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2017)
SPORTS WEEKEND, DECEMBER 23-24, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS MISSION Prep Basketball Vikings come back for victory Nixyaawii goes cold as Umatilla earns comeback win East Oregonian DALLAS — The Herm- iston boys basketball team heads into Christmas break on a positive note as it ended a two-game losing streak with a 72-52 victory on the road against Dallas on Friday night. “It was a real good win for us going into break,” Hermiston coach Casey Arstein said. “The kids played very hard and well on defense in the second half ... and on offense we got in a groove and got a lot of easy buckets off of our half-court defense.” The Bulldogs (4-4) had only two scorers in double fi gures, but had a very balanced night as the second half cushion allowed Arstein to empty his bench quite a bit. Ryne Andreason led the Bulldogs with 14 points which include three made 3-pointers, while Jordan Ramirez followed with 11 points. Three Bulldogs fi nished with eight points including Andrew James, who played more minutes after getting full clearance from a back injury he had suffered during the football state championship game. Evan Courtney led the Dragons (1-7) with nine points. ———— By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian MISSION — For the fi rst three quarters on Friday night, the Nixyaawii Golden Eagles couldn’t miss a shot, hitting on 60 percent of their attempts. That success gave the Golden Eagles a 54-46 lead heading into the fi nal eight minutes Boys Basketball against the r e d - h o t Umatilla Vikings. But Umatilla in that fi nal quarter, Nixy- aawii suddenly went ice cold. Close-range lay-ins didn’t Nixyaawii fall in, and wide-open looks always rimmed out. The Golden Eagles were 0 for their fi rst nine from the fl oor, which allowed the Umatilla Vikings to come back and steal a 61-57 win. “We had some good looks but I think our youth and some fatigue we just came up a little bit short,” Nixyaawii coach Shane Rivera said. “We had about three or four shots that probably go in most days, and would’ve made a big difference in the game I think.” The Golden Eagles (7-2) led for the entire third quarter and most of the fourth quarter until Umatilla’s Seth Cranston swished a mid-range jumper from the left baseline to put the Vikings on top 55-54 with just two minutes left to play. It was the fi rst lead for the Vikings (9-1) since a 28-27 advantage at the 1:10 mark of the second quarter. “It was a relief,” Cranston recalled of his go-ahead shot. “We feel like we should’ve done a lot better than we did, but I’m glad we were able to scratch it out. We had to come together 61 57 See VIKINGS/3B Dawgs beat up Dragons HHS 15 11 23 23 — 72 DHS 13 15 8 16 — 52 HERMISTON — R. Andreason 14, J. Ramirez 11, A. Earl 8, A. James 8, C. Ortiz 8, A. Mendez 7, P. Wicks 6, C. Smith 6, T. McCullough 2, B. Davis 2. DALLAS — E. Courtney 9, C. Weisensee 8, J. Fennell 7, T. Dimick 6, J. Anderson 5, B. Hicks 4, C. Kiner 4, D. Woolner 2, W. Button 2. 3-pointers — HHS 8, DHS 3. Free throws — HHS 10-17, DHS 13-20. Fouls — HHS 20, DHS 17. GIRLS BASKETBALL Staff photo by E.J. Harris Umatilla’s Trent Durfey shoot the ball over Nixyáawii’s Magi Moses in the Vikings’ 61-57 win against the Golden Eagles on Friday in Mission. WEST VALLEY (WA) 54, HERMISTON 31 — At West Valley, the Hermiston Bulldogs’ losing streak extended to four games on Friday with a non-league loss to West Valley. The Bulldogs next play on Wednesday against Oregon City in the Lake Oswego Tournament. MISSION Golden Eagles smother Vikings Nixyáawii’s Milan Schimmel drives past Umatilla’s Ayana Reyes in the Golden Eagles’ 78-29 win against the Vikings on Friday in Mission. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Schimmel, Stewart help Nixyaawii remain unbeaten on season By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian MISSION — For most prep basketball teams, the non-leauge portion of the schedule is for teams to learn how to come together to be at their best come time for league play and the postseason. However, the Nixyaawii girls basketball team has proved there is no early-season learning curve as the defending 1A state champs have cruised to eight straight wins to start the season. Girls Basketball Umatilla Nixyaawii 29 78 Friday night cruise control was still in effect for Nixyaawii, as they used a smothering defense and fast-paced offense to thump the Umatilla Vikings 78-29 to remain undefeated. Nixyaawii has now scored at least 63 points in all nine games this season, and are averaging 71.3 points per game, a testament to the talent and experi- ence of the group. “Most importantly, we’re starting four seniors and a junior so they’ve had those years o playing together and playing in the system, so we’ve basically just picked up where we left off last year,” Nixy- aawii coach Jeremy Maddern said. “Obviously we’re very blessed with a lot of talented players, but we’re executing really well.” Nixyaawii’s big three of Mary Stewart, Milan Schimmel and Kait- lynn Melton were excellent again on Friday as they combined for 57 of the team’s 78 points. Schimmel had a game-high 24 points and added eight steals, fi ve blocks and fi ve assists and Stewart had 20 points with six rebounds and fi ve assists. Melton fi nished with 13 points and nine boards. See GOLDEN EAGLES/3B Sports shorts Durant leads Warriors to 11th consecutive victory OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Kevin Durant had 33 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four blocks, and the Golden State Warriors held off the Los Angeles Lakers 113-106 on Friday night for their 11th straight victory. Rookie Jordan Bell recorded his fi rst career double-double with season bests of 20 points and 10 rebounds, making a key layup with 2:45 to go and dunking a minute later. Klay Thompson scored 16 Durant points and Draymond Green added 13 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists as he came back from a shoulder injury for the defending champs. Kyle Kuzma scored 27 points and fellow rookie Lonzo Ball had 24 points with fi ve 3-pointers in his fi rst visit to Oracle Arena. Julius Randle added 21 points off the bench for Los Angeles. “Since returning from China, they have done everything asked of them and continued to work hard in the classroom and in their own personal workouts. I’ve told our players all along that actions have consequences, and the season-long suspension shows how seriously we take their misconduct.“ — Steve Alford UCLA men’s basketball coach announced that Cody Riley and Jalen Hill were sus- pended for the remainder of the season after being arrested for shoplifting on a team trip to China in November. Oregon women thump Hawaii LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sabrina Ionescu had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 10 Oregon to an 85-44 victory over Hawaii on Friday in the Duel in the Desert. Ruthy Hebard hit 8 of 10 shots and fi nished with 18 points and six rebounds, while Lexi Bando scored 14 for the Ducks (11-2). Ionescu, who has a share of the NCAA record with seven career triple-doubles, was named MVP of the Desert Division, which also included Hawaii and Texas A&M. The Rainbow Wahine (6-6) were led by Julissa Tago, who had 11 points. The Ducks, who won both their games in the event, shot 66.7 percent (8 of 12) in the third and 47.6 percent (30 of 63) for the game. Hawaii couldn’t keep pace, shooting 17 of 52 (32.7 percent) from the fl oor, including 27.3 percent (3 of 11) in the fourth quarter. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 2007 — The New England Patriots set an NFL record with their 15th win, the best start in league history, with a 28-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins 28-7. 2011 — Doug Martin rushes for 151 yards and returns the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, giving Boise State a lead 14 seconds into the Las Vegas Bowl on the way to a 56-24 win over Arizona State. Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore fi nishes with 266 yards and two touchdowns, ending his career with 50 total wins the NCAA’s winningest player at the position. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
