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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 2018)
SPORTS Saturday, February 10, 2018 East Oregonian Page 3B GIRLS: Pendleton hit all of their 11 free throws PREPS: Rocket Continued from 1B rival, but at a few points in the game that advantage was threat- ened. Both teams traded baskets in the opening quarter, knotting the score at 12-12 after the first eight minutes of play. Then the Bucks, behind the efforts of leading scorer McGlo- than, outscored the Bulldogs 15-4 in the second quarter. At the break, Porter empha- sized the need to stay in the moment even with an 11-point advantage. “(What) we talked about it in the locker room was, ‘You play these next eight minutes. Don’t worry about the other eight minutes. We’ll work on this eight minutes,’” Kevin Porter said. “(Hermiston) must have had a better halftime speech than I did because they came out and kicked our butt in the third quarter.” The Bulldogs hit four of their six total 3-pointers in the third quarter, and went on a 17-4 run to pull within one point of the Bucks. It was Hermiston’s first chance claim its only lead of the game, and three plays later it did. Thompson hit a three to put Hermiston up 38-36 with only 15 seconds before the fourth quarter. The half time message that worked was less of a message and more of a much needed adjustment. “It was more of letting them compose themselves,” Hermiston head coach Juan Rodriguez said. “It’s a big game and they were out shooting not within our offense and they were a little unfocused defensively. It was just a matter of refocusing, making sure we were in the right defensive spots and making sure Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton’s Jaiden Lemberger drives on Hermiston’s Syd- ney Stefani in the Bucks’ 61-42 win against the Bulldogs on Friday in Pendleton. we were in our motion offense, executing.” The Bulldogs were able to do just that and held the Bucks to single digits for almost the entire third quarter. But as the clock ticked down, Pendleton didn’t hesitate to fire back and senior Hallie Porter answered with a three of her own as the buzzer sounded. Pendleton only have up its lead once in the final quarter, again behind the efforts of Thompson, but the Bucks went on to play sound, focused offense — hitting all of their 11 free throw attempts — and in the final minutes, aggressive defense. “We went into the fourth quarter still close, and I said, ‘This is going to come down to this eight minutes,’” Kevin Porter said. “‘Whoever wins this eight minutes is going to walk out of here a winner,’ and we won that last eight minutes.” The game was capped off with another Hallie Porter 3-pointer — it was her third and final of the night. Hermiston was led by Thompson, but also received help from senior Maddy Juul — who played her most minutes and best game since returning to the floor from a knee injury that has plagued her final year. Juul hit Hermiston’s first two three’s in the third quarter to help spark its long run. Junior Sydney Stefani ended that run, and hit a three of her own which was the shot that gave the Bulldogs their first lead. Stefani has been a reliable player off the bench, and put up nine points in Hermiston’s last outing — the second best team performance. “Everybody who came off the bench did a good job,” Rodriguez said. “(Sydney) came off the bench tonight and gave us a little bit of a spark as well with the scoring.” Hermiston will hope to rebound from the loss it stays on the road to face The Dalles on Tuesday. Pendleton will have one final home game before making the two-game away trip to close out the season. The Bucks will welcome Hood River Valley on Tuesday. ——— HHS 12 4 22 14 — 52 PHS 12 15 12 22 — 61 HERMISTON — H. Thompson 22, J. Thomas 10, J. Romero 7, M. Juul 6, J. Ray 4, S. Stefani 3. PENDLETON — K. McGlothan 18, H. Porter 14, J. Lemberger 9, M. Davies 8, R. Genter 5, J. Wilson 3, H. Kiele 2, E. Cadadei 2. 3-pointers — HHS 6, PHS 6. Free throws — HHS 5-6, PHS 17-25. BOYS: ‘The kids stuck together and that was huge’ Continued from 1B victory. “We came in prepared and I thought we played very well.” Hermiston coach Casey Arstein described Ortiz as a “gym rat,” and hasn’t been surprised with the way the junior has improved this season. “He wasn’t just jacking up threes. Sometimes he does, but he’s still a shooter and shooters are going to shoot and I’m okay with that sometimes,” Arstein said. “He played a smart game and I thought he played really well in the second half.” The Bulldogs (9-11 overall, 4-2 Columbia River Confer- ence) trailed 19-16 at the end of a fast-paced first quarter, and midway through the second, the momentum was starting to swing in the Buckaroos’ favor with a 27-21 lead. However, two quick buckets from Patrick Wicks had the Bulldogs right back in the game and then a 3-pointer and made free throw from Ortiz put the Dawgs on top 32-31 at the break. Both teams took care of the ball in the half with only five combined turnovers, and were matching shot-for-shot on field goals as Hermiston shot 38 percent (11 for 29) and Pend- leton 42 percent (11 for 26). In the locker room, Ortiz said the Bulldogs simply talked about continuing the type of play that had helped the Bulldogs earn the halftime advantage. “Just limiting our turnovers and being patient with the ball,” Ortiz recalled. “We knew that was going to win us the game and that’s what we did, and we came away with (the ‘W’).” In the second half, Herm- iston’s defense tightened up and Pendleton’s offense simply dried up, especially from deep. The Buckaroos (12-9, 4-2) were 4 for 8 from three in the first half, but finished 3 for 15 in the second half, including a stretch of 10 straight misses between the third and fourth quarters. On top of the limited offense, Pendleton got a little carless with the ball and tallied eight turnovers in the second half. Pendleton fought back to re-take a 37-36 lead with 4:09 left in the game after two technical fouls on Hermiston’s Jordan Ramirez and the team’s bench sent Buckaroos’ Dakota Sams to the free throw line where he made three off the four shots. But that would be the Buckaroos’ only lead of the half as Hermiston tied it back up at 39-39 just 30 seconds later and then took back the lead 42-39 on a 3-pointer by Ortiz with 3:10 left. “We didn’t make the plays boys clinc CBC title Continued from 1B last three quarters,” head coach Mike Royer said. “We had a chance to tie the game early in the fourth quarter, but missed too many free throws.” In the final quarter, the Knights (16-6 overall, 5-5 Eastern Oregon League) were 0-for-4 from the charity stripe, and missed critical one-and-one opportunities to try and cut their deficit. Irrigon’s Jada Burns wrapped up her basket- ball career with a game best of 18 points. For the Vikings (12-11, 7-3), they’ll season will continue as Vale sits in second in the EOL. WESTON-MCEWEN 50, STANFIELD 32 — As Weston-McEwen’s season wraps up, the TigerScots needed to bounce back from a tough loss that snapped an eight-game winning streak. They did just that at home Friday with a 50-32 win over the visiting Stanfield Tigers. Chelsea Quaempts and Katie Vescio led the TigerScots (15-7 overall, 6-1 Columbia Basin Conference) with a combined 31 points. Quaempts, along with four other seniors, were honored before the game for Weston-McE- wen’s Senior Night. For the Tigers (2-20, 0-7), their skid now moves to nine straight games. Stanfield was led by Kylee McClure and Kendra Hart, who scored seven points apiece. HEPPNER 43, PILOT ROCK 40 — At Heppner, the Mustangs and the Pilot Rock Rockets battled it out in the final regular season matchup of the season. Heppner’s narrow 43-40 win was hard fought, as the Rockets (12-10 overall, 2-5 Columbia Basin Conference) put up double-digit second and third quarters to cut their deficit to as little as one point. The Mustangs (13-6, 5-3), led by Sydney Wilson, were able to only on to that small lead to come to the eventual game-winning score. Wilson finished with 20 points on the night and 11 rebounds to cap off her freshman season with a double-double. Also with 20 points on the night was Pilot Rock senior Kayla Deist. JOSEPH 56, HELIX 42 — After getting out to an early lead on their home court and holding it into the break, the Helix Grizzlies gave up 22 points in the fourth quarter while only knocking down four of their own against Joseph to fall 56-42. The Eagles (16-4 overall, 10-3 Eastern Oregon League) by the trio of Sabrina Albee, Alexis Sykora and Madelyn Nelson. Albee led all scores with 14 points, while Sykora put up 12 and Nelson banked 11 of her own. For the Grizzlies (13-10, 7-6), Sadie Wilson put up a team-best 11 points. ECHO 39, WALLOWA 25 — On the road, Echo snapped its skid with a 39-25 over Wallowa. For the Echo Cougars (8-16 overall, 3-10 Old Oregon League), it’s only their third league win of the year. The Wallowa Cougars have also struggled and now match Echo’s league record at 3-10 and sit at 5-17. NIXYAAWII 62, PINE EAGLE 22 — The Eagles stay undefeated on the season with a 40-point victory on the road. The Pine Eagles were no match for 22-0 Nixyaawii, as it continues to breeze through its schedule. BOYS BASKETBALL Staff photo by Kathy Aney Pendleton’s Tyler Newsome (22) goes up for a shot during Friday’s game against Hermis- ton at Warberg Court as fans in the Bucking Chute wait to see if the shot goes in. Staff photo by Kathy Aney Hermiston’s Patrick Wicks (20) looks to dish off to a team- mate as Tyler Newsome, of Pendleton, defends during Fri- day’s game at Warberg Court. tonight,” Pendleton coach Kyle Tedder said. “At the end of the day, I believe we’re the better team, but when you don’t make plays or rebound, you’re going to get beat ... We just did not play well.” Hermiston’s lead was only six with two minutes left, but as Pendleton still couldn’t buy a bucket they had to resort to fouling the Bulldogs taking their chances with the Dawgs’ free-throw shooting. And the Bulldogs followed through, as they nailed 10-of-13 shots in the fourth quarter and 16-of-22 for the game, which grew the lead and helped seal the victory. “I’m proud of the guys,” Arstein said. “We played good at times and average at times, but the kids stuck together and that was huge. I just thought it was a great team effort and the guys stayed positive.” Andrew Earl made his first start of the season for Herm- iston in place of Ramirez, who is battling an injury, and played well with 14 points with a pair of first quarter 3-pointers. Adrian Mendez also gave Hermiston a big 11 points, with six of that coming in the fourth quarter. “A lot of our guys stepped up tonight and we’re pretty happy with that,” Ortiz said. For the Buckaroos, Dakota Sams had a game-high 20 points with the help of five 3-pointers and Tyler Newsom was limited to 15 points, including just four in the second half. Dante Jackson chipped in a solid night with seven points off the bench. As both teams now head to the home stretch of the regular season with only three conference games left, both coaches know there’s still a lot of basketball left to be played. Pendleton will head to Hood River Valley on Tuesday looking for revenge on the Eagles’ upset victory at home last week, and needs to re-dis- cover the groove on both ends of the floor that contributed to Pendleton’s early dominance in the CRC. “We’ll be fine,” Tedder said. “We just have to go back to the drawing board a little bit. We’re the better team here, we just have to get back to playing better and making better plays.” As for Hermiston, Arstein knows that the Bulldogs can’t afford to get too confident following Friday’s win. Next up is a home tilt with The Dalles, a team that knocked of the Bulldogs just seven days ago. “We only have a couple days to rest until Tuesday with The Dalles, and we’re 1-1 with them so we have our work cut out for us,” Arstein said. “But hopefully when we see Pendleton again at home again, it’ll possibly be playing for a conference championship. But right now, we have to just take it one game at a time.” ———— HHS 16 16 13 21 — 66 PHS 19 12 12 12 — 55 HERMISTON — C. Ortiz 18, A. Earl 14, A. Mendez 11, R. Andreason 7, A. James 7, P. Wicks 5, J. Ramirez 2, T. McCullough 2. PENDLETON — D. Sams 20, T. Newsom 15, D. Jackson 7, R. Scott 4, S. Jerome 3, C. San- dord 2, W. Camp 2, R. Russell 2, G. Lee. 3-pointers — HHS 8, PHS 7. Free throws — HHS 16-22, PHS 8-13. Fouls — HHS 14 (Technicals — J. Ramirez, Bench), PHS 18 (Fouled out — Newsom). PILOT ROCK 55, HEPPNER 44 — At Heppner, the Pilot Rock Rockets wrapped up the Columbia Basin Conference’s regular season title with a come-from-behind win over Heppner on Friday night. The Rockets (16-6 overall, 7-0 CBC) trailed 13-8 after the first quarter and 35-33 after three. But behind stingy defense from guards Logan Weinke and Riley Lankford, Pilot Rock outscored the Mustangs (11-8, 6-2) 22-9 to take the win. Bryson Pierce and Chris Weinke each had double-doubles, with Pierce scoring 22 with 10 rebounds and Weinke getting 17 with 10 rebounds. Tyler Carter led the Mustangs with 10 points. STANFIELD 53, WESTON-MCEWEN 50 — At Athena, It came down to the wire for the Stanfield/Weston-McEwen matchup. After trailing for the entire game, the TigerScots knotted the score with one minute left. They had a chance to get the ball back and take the lead but the Tigers were able to secure the rebound and move the ball up court up draw a foul and take back the advantage by a point. Weston-McEwen had its chance at the charity stripe but missed the shot, and when it was Stan- field’s turn to head back to the free-throw line, the Tigers secured the 53-50 win. Leading Stanfield (10-13 overall, 3-4 CBC) was Brody Woods, who along with 22 points, grabbed 10 boards for a double-double. For the TigerScots (7-15, 2-5), Brett Speed had a triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. IRRIGON 52, VALE 34 — On Senior Night, Irrigon moved into second place in the Eastern Oregon League with a 52-34 win over Vale. The Knights now move to 18-4 on the season and 7-3 in league play, and are only one game behind the first-place Umatilla Vikings. With its late game in the books, Irrigon’s hopes now lie in a Burns win Saturday when the Hilanders travel to Umatilla. JOSEPH 57, HELIX 26 — Joseph completed the sweep in Helix with a resounding win over the Grizzlies. The 57-26 defeat is now Helix’s fifth straight loss as it moves to 3-20 overall and 2-11 in the Old Oregon League. While the Eagles sore to 13-6 overall and 9-4 in league. WALLOWA 58, ECHO 55 — The Echo Cougars were close to topping Wallowa on its home court, but the hosting Cougars pulled ahead for a 58-55 win to hand Echo its fourth loss in a row. Echo now sits at 8-16 overall and 5-8 in the Old Oregon League. Wallowa (12-10 overall, 7-6 OOL) is sandwiched in between Echo and Joseph for fourth place in league. NIXYAAWII 79, PINE EAGLE 27 — The Nixyaawii Golden Eagles finished off the regu- lars season strong and won their third straight game with a 79-27 victory over Pine Eagle to move to 12-1 in the Old Oregon Leauge.