SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018
1B
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HERMISTON
HERMISTON
Purple Reign
Bulldogs
finally
take down
Buckaroos
Hermiston beats
Pendleton to win
conference title
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Four years
ago, Ryne Andreason was playing
on an AAU team and not yet
walking the halls of Hermiston
High.
On Tuesday, his 3-pointer put
the Bulldogs up one possession
over the visiting
Boys
Pendleton
Buckaroos with Basketball
mere seconds
left in the
Columbia River
Pendleton
Conference title
game.
The play and
that shot was
what Andreason
has spent the
Hermiston
better part of 10
years working
on, and it all
paid off when
Hermiston was claimed CRC
championship for the first time in
four years.
“It’s what we’ve been working
hard for our entire lives,” Andreason
said. “We’ve been watching these
high school games since first grade,
it’s just, it’s amazing. It really is.”
At the Dawg House, Hermiston
knocked off the three-time CRC
champions 50-46. But like most of
their games as of late, the Bulldogs’
win didn’t come without some nail
biting moments.
After Hermiston held a narrow
24-21 lead at the half, Pendleton
looked to reliable shooters in Shaw
Jerome and Tyler Newsom to chip
away at the deficit.
By the end of the third, the
Buckaroos (14-10 overall, 6-3
CRC) were up 35-34 after holding
Hermiston to its lowest offensive
output (10 points) of the four quar-
ters played.
There were two ties and one
lead change to open the fourth,
and after nearly three full minutes
of the score being tied at 39-39,
Newsom hit a three from the left
corner to put Pendleton up 39-42.
The Bulldogs (12-11, 7-2) then
saw themselves down by two
possessions after Willie Camp
banked a pair of free throws with
1:30 left to play.
Camp, Pendleton’s sleeping
giant, came alive in the final
regular season game. He finished
the game with 14 points, only two
Hermiston ends regular
season with rivalry win
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — For the first
two years of Maddy Juul’s Herm-
iston career, beating the Pendleton
Buckaroos on the basketball court
was a given, never a toss-up.
However, over Juul’s next two
seasons the two programs effec-
tively changed
Girls
places in the
Basketball league standing.
The Buckaroos
won
back-to-
back
conference
Pendleton
championships
and won four
of the last five
games against
the Bulldogs —
including three
Hermiston
straight dating
back to last
season — going
into Tuesday’s
regular-season finale between the
two rivals.
That’s why it was such a
rewarding feeling for Juul and the
rest of Hermiston’s five seniors as
the Bulldogs were able to end their
skid to the Buckaroos with a 43-36
victory at The Dawg House.
46
36
50
43
See BULLDOGS/3B
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston coach Casey Arstein celebrates with Jordan Ramirez after the Bulldogs’ 50-46 win
against Pendleton on Tuesday in Hermiston.
behind a team best from Newsom,
and was key in giving the Bucks
some momentum before the break
despite being trailing by three
points.
Not only did Camp come
through for Pendleton, but he also
aided Hermiston’s efforts in the
fourth quarter.
Down 44-39 after Camp’s made
free-throw attempts, he fouled
Andrew James as James was
driving to the basket. The three
point play would have put the
Bulldogs within one possession,
but Camp — clearly frustrated —
yelled an expletive within an ear
shot of the referee and was handed
a technical.
Hermiston converted the
four-point play, and took the lead
on the ensuing possession with a
field goal from Andreason.
See REIGN/3B
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s
Jazlyn
Rome-
ro shoots the ball guarded by
Pendleton’s Katie Bradt in the
Bulldogs’ 43-36 win against the
Bucks on Tuesday in Hermiston.
NBA
Blazers hope for another post-All-Star break revival
By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer
PORTLAND — The Trail Blazers
have enjoyed post-All-Star break
revivals the past two seasons.
Those late-season rallies will no
doubt be an ongoing theme in the
congested Western Conference playoff
race once Portland resumes play on
Friday in Utah.
“I mean, I think that’s in the back of
our minds. We know that we’re usually
a better team in the second half of the
season,” Portland guard Damian Lillard
said. “We can’t just go into it saying,
‘All right, we’re always good at this part
Western Conference
Playoff Standings
Houston
Golden State
San Antonio
Minnesota
Oklahoma City
Portland
Denver
New Orleans
W
44
44
35
36
33
32
32
31
L
13
14
24
25
26
26
26
26
Pct GB
.772 —
.759 ½
.593 10
.590 10
.559 12
.552 12½
.552 12½
.544 13
of the season.’ I think mentally we have
to understand how close of a race it is
and that we’ve got to be sharp all the
way through.”
Portland is 32-26 at the break, tied
for sixth in the West, which is better off
than it was last season at the same point.
But the Blazers are one of five teams
in the West with 26 losses. The Warriors
and Houston Rockets sit comfortably
atop the standings with the next eight
teams jostling for position.
The Blazers headed into the All-Star
Game with a 123-117 victory over
Golden State, snapping a seven-game
losing streak to the Warriors. Lillard had
44 points, his third straight game with
39 or more and the best scoring stretch
of his career. His 133 points over the last
See BLAZERS/2B
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File
Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers have been known for
their post-All-Star break revivals for the past two sea-
sons. Those late-season rallies will no doubt be an ongo-
ing theme in the congested Western Conference playoff
race once Portland resumes the season on Friday in Utah.
Sports shorts
Mavs launch probe after
allegations of misconduct
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Mavericks
have hired outside counsel to investigate
allegations of inappropriate conduct by former
team president Terdema Ussery in a Sports
Illustrated report that described a
hostile workplace for women.
Ussery was accused of making
sexually suggestive remarks to
several women. He spent 18 years
with the team before going to the
sports apparel company Under
Ussery
Armour in 2015. Ussery, who
was investigated by the team over
similar claims in 1998, denied the allegations in
a statement to SI.
The report said team website reporter Earl
Sneed was twice accused of domestic assault
while working for the Mavericks, including a
guilty plea in a case that was dismissed when he
met the conditions of the agreement.
“I wish I could keep
going. I wish this wasn’t
my last Olympics, but
it is. So I’m trying to
accept that and deal
with the emotions of that
and enjoy the ride.”
— Lindsey Vonn
The U.S Olympic athlete said
after earning the bronze medal
Wednesday in her final Olympic
downhill, which has been the
signature event of her singular
career.
Seattle begins season-ticket
campaign for new NHL team
SEATTLE (AP) — Fans longing for a
professional hockey team in Seattle will soon
be able to put down some money for season
tickets.
Mayor Jenny Durkan and
the Oak View Group, which is
trying to bring an NHL team to
the city, announced Tuesday that
beginning March 1, people can
make refundable deposits for season tickets at
NHLSeattle.com.
The deposits run $500 per ticket for season
tickets or $1,000 per ticket for club season
tickets, which are center ice, lower-level tickets.
Billionaire David Bonderman and film-
maker Jerry Bruckheimer are leading the effort
to bring a team to Seattle. The group submitted
its expansion application with the National
Hockey League last week.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1992 — Kristi Yamaguchi
wins America’s first Olympic
gold medal in women’s figure
skating since 1976.
2002 — In Salt Lake
City, U.S. figure skater Sarah
Hughes jumps from fourth to
first to win the Olympic gold
while teammate Michelle
Kwan settles for bronze.
The powerful U.S. women’s
hockey team loses 3-2 in a
gold-medal game to a Cana-
dian team it had beaten eight
consecutive times.
2014 — Mikaela Shiffrin
becomes
the
youngest
Olympic
slalom
gold
medalist.
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