SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2018
1B
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HERMISTON
Prep Roundup
Revenge at the Dawg House
Hermiston welcomed La
Grande after facing each
other just days prior
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — It was a rematch
in more ways than one Tuesday night
at the Dawg House.
Hermiston hosted La Grande,
a team that handed the Bulldogs
a 10-point loss
just three days
Boys
ago, and the boys Basketball
were ready to get
back on the court
and rewrite the
outcome against a
La Grande
tough 4A Greater
Oregon
League
team.
But it wasn’t
just the players that
had bragging rights
Hermiston
on the line.
Hermiston
head coach Casey
Arstein and La
Girls
Grande head coach
Mark Carollo grew Basketball
up three doors down
from one another in
Hermiston, were
La Grande
teammates on the
basketball
court
and double partners
in tennis.
Carollo has been
the better athlete,
Hermiston
Arstein
admits,
but now when the
pair see each other
again at Carollo’s
wedding in July,
Arstein can rub this 66-59 win in.
“I’ll take the dub over him tonight
at home,” Arstein said after Hermiston
escaped with the victory.
Turnovers and missed opportu-
nities hurt Hermiston during its fi rst
outing at La Grande, but a cleaner
performance at home gave the Bull-
dogs (5-9) the advantage for the entire
of the game.
Junior Andrew James stepped in
for an injured Jordan Ramirez, who is
probable for Friday’s league opener,
and aided in Hermiston’s efforts to go
up 14-10 at the half.
James didn’t record any points on
the night, but his selfl ess play and help
moving the ball led to the Bulldogs
opening the game with three consec-
utive 3-pointers and a total of 11 after
by the end of the night.
Cesar Ortiz has been a reliable
shooter behind the arc for Hermiston,
but it was Cole Smith who got things
started for the Bulldogs with the fi rst
See DAWG HOUSE/3B
Bucks
win in
fi nal
ticks
Pendleton hits late
layup to go up one
in narrow victory
East Oregonian
59
66
41
50
Staff photos by Kathy Aney
ABOVE: Hermiston’s Ryne Andreason (1)
goes up for a shot against pressure from
Braden Bell (21), of La Grande, during Tues-
day’s game at the Dawg House.
LEFT: Hermiston’s Jordan Thomas and Re-
gan Meyers (15) battle for a rebound with
Alexyss Chamberlain (13), of La Grande.
Box scores
Boys
La Grande
10 13 21 18 —
62
Hermiston
14 14 20 18 —
66
LA GRANDE — K. Chandler 20, G. Blackman 15, B. Bell 11,
N. Chamerlain 8, C. Reed 2, N. Tsiatsos 2, J. Walker 2, H.
Youngblood 2.
HERMISTON — C. Ortiz 26, C. Smith 11, A. Earl 8, P. Wicks 8,
R. Andreason 6, T. McCullough 4, B. Davis 2, A. Mendez 1.
3-pointers — LG 4, HHS 11. Free throws — LG 4-7, HHS 13-15.
Fouls — LG 21, HHS 13.
Girls
La Grande
2 13 13 13 —
41
Hermiston
22 7 10 11 —
50
LA GRANDE — C. Collman 16, E. Dunlap 11, J. Homan 6, L.
Chamberlain 4, D. Lester 4.
HERMISTON — J. Thomas 22, H. Thompson 10, J. Romero 7,
R. Meyers 6, A. Green 3, M. Wilson 2.
3-pointers — LG 1, HHS 4. Free throws — LG 8-19, HHS 4-16.
Fouls — LG 15, HHS 18.
PENDLETON — The
Pendleton
Buckaroos
weren’t going down without
a fi ght Tuesday night when
they hosted Baker for one of
its last non-league games.
Trailing the entire game,
a strong collective defensive
effort and a fi nal run by
Dakota Sams and Shaw
Jerome gave Pendleton its
fi rst lead of the night, which
was enough to skate by with
a 50-49 victory.
“It’s good to be tested like
this,” head coach Kyle Tedder
said. “It’s good to have tight
ones. It’s a confi dence and
momentum builder.”
Sams, the freshman who
came through for the Buck-
aroos (8-6) in the end, may
have the most confi dence at
the moment.
But Pendleton always
stayed within reach thanks
to good defense led by Ryan
Russell.
“He’s our anchor, our
best vocal leader” Tedder
said. “He’s our quarterback
out there, and you know
what you’ll get from him
every night.”
Tedder went on to say
that Pendleton’s defensive
output is almost where it
needs to be before entering
league play — something
it’ll rely heavily on to remain
at the top of the Columbia
River Conference.
Leading
Pendleton’s
offense was Tyler Newsome,
who fi nished with 17 points.
Russell chipped in 11 of his
own.
For the Bulldogs (8-9),
Gabe Gambleton fi nished
with a game-high 18 points.
Next, the Bucks will
travel to Hood River Valley
to begin league play. Tipoff
is scheduled for 7 p.m.
See ROUNDUP/3B
Pro Basketball
Lillard scores 31, leads Blazers to end skid at home
PORTLAND (AP) —
Damian Lillard scored 31
points and the Portland Trail
Blazers snapped a three-
game losing streak with a
118-111 victory over the
Phoenix Suns on Tuesday
night.
CJ
McCollum
had
27 points, including six
3-pointers, and the Trail
Blazers led by as many as 27
points in third quarter.
Devin Booker had 43 for
the Suns, who have lost three
straight and fi ve of their last
six.
NBA
Phoenix
Portland
111
118
Booker rallied the Suns
in the fi nal quarter with 21
points. His 3-pointer got the
Suns within 103-93 with just
over seven minutes left and
Portland coach Terry Stotts
put his starters back in.
Booker
hit
another
3-pointer to narrow Port-
land’s lead to 107-99. McCo-
llum answered with a basket,
and Portland got a stop before
Al-Farouq Aminu’s 3 from
the corner with 3:30 left.
Another 3-pointer by
Aminu put Portland up
117-105 with 1:12 left and
put the game out of reach.
Booker fi nished with fi ve
3-pointers, four of them in
the fourth quarter alone.
It was Portland’s fi rst
game back home after a four-
game road trip. The Blazers
dropped consecutive games
to Houston, New Orleans
and Minnesota.
The Suns were without
Marquese Chriss for the
third straight game because
of a right hip strain. Dragan
Bender started in his place.
Phoenix was also without
T.J. Warren because of low
back soreness. Both Chriss
and Warren were considered
day-to-day.
Portland’s
Shabazz
Napier, who has helped give
the Blazers a spark off the
bench, was available after
nursing a lower back strain.
He had his back wrapped
with an ice pack while the
team warmed up for the
second half. Napier fi nished
with 11.
Lillard hit a 3-pointer with
the fi rst shot of the game,
and the Blazers opened 8
for 8 from the fi eld. Lillard
fi nished the opening quarter
with 12 points, second only
to Booker with 13.
Pat
Connaughton’s
3-pointer put the Blazers
up 45-36, and McCollum
hit a 3-pointer to stretch the
lead to 66-51 going into the
half. Lillard and Booker
each fi nished the half with 20
points.
Portland pulled away in
the second half, going up
80-56 after McCollum’s steal
and layup. The Suns opened
the half just 1-of-13 from the
fi eld.
The game got a bit testy
in the fourth quarter, when
Maurice
Harkless
and
Booker exchanged words.
Both were given technical
fouls.
Troy Daniels fi nished
with 18 points off the bench
for Phoenix.
Sports shorts
Pendleton’s Naughton named a
top HS prospect in Oregon
PENDLETON — Pendleton’s Daniel
Naughton fi nished his junior year as a little-
known college baseball prospect, but now he’ll
start his senior year as one of the top college
prospects in the state of Oregon.
Baseball Northwest, a prep base-
ball showcase for the top prospects
in the Northwest, recently ranked
Naughton as the No. 3 prospect in
the entire state for 2018. Naughton,
right-handed pitcher standing 6-feet
Naughton
tall, signed to pitch at Gonzaga
University in November.
Naughton is ranked behind Westview infi elder
and Michigan signee Willie Weiss and Lake
Oswego shortstop and Oregon State signee Jake
Dukart. La Grande right-handed pitcher GT
Blackman, who is signed at Lewis-Clark State
College, is ranked No. 7.
“I said, `It is going to
happen, what time is
that going to happen?
Why not now and why
not us?’”
— Kevin Sumlin
Arizona’s newest head football
coach said in regards to a Wild-
cat appearance in the Rose Bowl.
Arizona is the only one of the
original Pac-10 never to play in
the game. Sumlin was introduced
as coach at a news conference
on Tuesday.
Umatilla’s Durfey earns
all-state football honors
UMATILLA — Umatilla’s Trent Durfey
picked up another accolade for his outstanding
junior season.
Having already been named Eastern Oregon
League Defensive Player of
the Year, Durfey recently was
selected to the Class 3A all-state
team as a second team linebacker.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder was a
star among a Vikings defense that
struggled in 2017, as he tallied
93 total tackles with two forced
Durfey
fumbles, one interception and one
fumble recovery.
A few league rivals also earned honors: WR/
DB Tanner Hamilton, OL/DL Karson Brown,
OL Wyatt Currey, DL Trey Lowe, and P Kyle
Haueter from Vale; LB JoJo Sanchez and DB
Tye Anderson of Nyssa; and WR Luke Bailey
and LB Evan Gunderson of Burns.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1961 — The Cincinnati
Royals’ 22-year-old rookie
sensation, Oscar Robertson,
becomes the youngest player
to receive NBA All-Star MVP
honors.
1986 — Tim Witherspoon
wins a majority decision over
Tony Tubbs in Atlanta to win
the WBA heavyweight title.
1996 — Detroit’s Steve
Yzerman becomes the 22nd
player in NHL history to
score 500 goals as the Red
Wings beat the Colorado
Avalanche 3-2.
2014
—
Five-time
champion Serena Williams
becomes the winningest
woman at the Australian
Open, notching career win
No. 61.
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sports@eastoregonian.com