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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2018)
SPORTS TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2018 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS STANFIELD Pro Basketball Blazers win 10th straight New-look Tigers win opener Stanfield defeats Columbia (WA) in five innings Lillard, Nurkick each net double-doubles By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian By ERIK GARCÍA GUNDERSEN Associated Press PORTLAND — Damian Lillard had 32 points and 10 assists, and the Portland NBA Trail Blazers beat the Miami Heat 115-99 on Monday night Miami for their 10th straight victory. Jusuf Nurkic added 27 points and 16 rebounds for the Blazers, Portland who have the longest current winning streak in the NBA and a two-game lead over Oklahoma City for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. The Heat used an 18-2 run to start the fourth quarter to trim a 19-point deficit to three, but Lillard took charge for the Blazers, just as he has throughout the winning streak. The All-Star guard broke Portland’s drought of over five minutes with a 3-pointer midway through the period to put Portland back in front by six, and the Blazers stayed safely ahead from there. Lillard scored 21 points after halftime. He leads the league in second-half scoring. Goran Dragic scored 23 points for the Heat, who were without two key players in starting center Hassan Whiteside and sixth man Dwyane Wade. The Blazers closed the first quarter on a 14-4 lead to take a 34-25 lead, capped by a buzz- er-beating 3-pointer from rookie Zach Collins. Another 3-pointer by Collins with 7:03 left in the second quarter put Portland up 45-33, forcing the Heat to call time. UP NEXT Trail Blazers: Welcome LeBron James and the Cleve- land Cavaliers on Thursday. 99 STANFIELD — Under a blue sky and a light breeze on a warm Monday afternoon, Stanfield/Echo junior Devan Craig put together a quiet performance in Baseball the batters box. He finished the day 0 for 1 with one strikeout Columbia (WA) but reached base twice via a walk and a hit-by-pitch. However Craig’s perfor- Stanfield mance was still notable: it was the very first baseball game of his life. After participating in track and field as a sophomore, Craig decided to give baseball a try this spring and made his debut as Stanfield’s starting right fielder on Monday. “I was really nervous in the beginning,” Craig said, “but I got over it after that.” He was part of a new-look Stanfield lineup on Monday that saw six new starters from last year’s opening day lineup. But even with the new faces, the Tigers brought home a familiar result as they defeated Columbia (WA) 12-2 in five innings. “It just feels great,” Craig said of the victory. “We wanted it really bad.” Craig also made a pair of tough outs in right field during the game, making the correct reads on line drives — with the sun directly in his line of sight — which can be difficult plays, no matter the experience level. “He’s an athlete our there in right field,” Stanfield coach Brad Rogers said of Craig. “He’s been working really hard, our outfield coach (Scott) Morris has been working hard with him and we’re really happy to get him.” 2 115 12 Staff photo by E.J. Harris Stanfield’s T.J. Smith throws from the mound in the Tigers’ 12-2 win against White Salmon on Mon- day in Stanfield. Pendle- ton’s Kalan McGlothan (34) watch- es Selah’s (WA) Kylie Wilkey (22) dribble past in the SWX All-Star Classic on Saturday at Kami- akin High School in Kennewick. Hermis- ton’s Mad- dy Juul also partic- ipated, as did Ryne Andreason in the boys’ game. Photo courtesy of Amanda Ray/ Yakima Herald-Re- public See TIGERS/3B Prep Basketball Locals highlight SWX All-Star Classic One Buck, two Bulldogs chosen for event By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ East Oregonian KENNEWICK, Wash. — After a long hiatus, SWX Right Now brought back its All-Star Classic. In this year’s inauguration a few local faces joined a plethora of basketball stars from the Tri-Cities and Yakima. On the girls team, Pendleton senior Kalan McGlothan and Hermiston senior Maddy Juul made up part of the Tri-Cities’ 15-player roster. They were pitted against Yakima — which had the Greater Columbia 1A Player of the Year, Yakima Tribal’s Nayah Mills, and two-time Central Washington Athletic Conference POY, Marissa Cortes of Prosser. Both McGlothan and Juul received the invitation via their coaches, who warned they wouldn’t be able to play if either team made it to state. But after both the Buckaroos and Bulldogs were knocked out of the first round, the former rivals welcomed the chance to wear the same colors and play along- side each other. “We’re rivals on the court, but friends off,” Juul said during the game when the two starters got a break on the bench. Due to the stacked rosters, each quarter lasted 10 minutes to allow more playing time. McGlothan and Juul combined for 16:20 minutes of play and six points Saturday at Kami- akin High School. Both eastern Oregon players started alongside Ali Martineau of Col-Burbank, River View’s Aaliyah Andreason and the No. 2 all-time scorer in the Mid Columbia Confer- ence, Alicia Oatis of Kennewick. There were only a handful of seniors on the roster that was mostly made up of juniors and featured some young standouts, including Tri-Cities Prep 6-foot freshman Talia von Oelhoffen, who finished the season averaging 29.3 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. For the boys, Hermiston’s Ryne Andreason joined the Tri-Cities team. The junior netted eight points and grabbed six rebounds in 12:58 minutes of play. Andreason is the only local player who will be returning to the court next season, and with Hermiston’s move to the WIAA the All-Star Classic was a good scouting opportunity for Andreason and the fellow Bulldogs in attendance. Sports shorts Ovechkin becomes 20th player to score 600 career goals in NHL WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin has become the 20th player in NHL history to score 600 goals. The captain of the Washington Capitals scored twice Monday night against the Winnipeg Jets to reach the milestone in his 990th regu- lar-season game. Ovechkin joined Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Brett Hull as the only players to score 600 in under 1,000 games. Ovechkin’s goal 3:53 into the Ovechkin second period was his 42nd of the season as he tries to hit 50 for the eighth time. The Russian winger had just 33 goals in 2016-17, his second-lowest total in a non-lockout-shortened season. “Pretty amazing feeling, pretty cool feeling,” Ovechkin said after the second period on Monday. “I understand the complexities and the challenges the committee has and respect following their criteria. But I can only be left with the conclusion that some of the criteria should be re-evaluated if a team that was No. 2 in our conference, playing as well as they’ve played, looking as good as they looked [was omitted].” — Larry Scott Pac-12 conference commissioner voicing his displeasure with USC being snubbed from the NCAA Tournament field. Oregon women score No. 2 seed in NCAA tournament (AP) — Notre Dame (29-3) gets the top seed in Spokane, but would have to play what amounts to a road game in the regional final if No. 2 seeded Oregon makes it that far. The Ducks (30-4) won both the Pac-12 regular season and tournament title, led by sophomore sensation Sabrina Ionescu, who averages just over 19 points a game and already owns the NCAA record for triple-doubles in her career. Oregon coach Kelly Graves is familiar with Spokane, having coached Gonzaga from 2000- 1014, leading the Zags to a regional final in 2012. “If we are fortunate enough to go back to Spokane where I spent so many amazing years at Gonzaga, that would be incredible,” he said. “For our Duck fans it’s close enough where they can justify a trip there.” THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1983 — Randy Smith’s consecutive game streak ends at 906 games, the longest in NBA history. 1997 — The America’s Cup, the oldest trophy in inter- national sports and yachting’s most coveted prize, is all but destroyed by a Maori protester who struck it repeatedly with a sledgehammer in Auckland, New Zealand. 2012 — BYU pulls off the biggest comeback in NCAA tournament history on a wild opening night. Noah Hartsock scores 16 of his 23 points in the second half and the Cougars rally from 25 points down to beat Iona 78-72 in the first round. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com