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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN Saturday, January 5, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS Bombers too much for Dawgs to handle B1 Burns drives Nixyaawii to claim league opener Burns sinks 33 points for Old Oregon League win By BRETT KANE East Oregonian tyasin Burns surprised everyone on Fri- day night. the 5-foot-8 sophomore guard broke Nixyaawii out of a tight first half to drive them to their season’s first league win against the visiting Powder Valley Bad- gers, 83-52. Burns shot 13 of 14 from the field for 33 points, and added four defensive rebounds and four assists. “He usually has a pass-first kind of men- tality,” said Golden Eagles coach Shane rivera. “this was a breakout offensive game for him.” nixyaawii struggled to stay ahead in the first quarter, giving up the lead three times, but rallied for a 34-26 lead at the half. Burns dominated the court in the third, posting 16 points to put away the Badgers for good. “I’m excited. this feels great,” Burns said. “Once I hit the first shot, I felt it. I felt the rhythm. I just kept shooting.” It was anyone’s game in the first half. Badgers freshman guard reece dixon helped his team tie up the game three times, and junior center roper Bingham hit four straight points to leave nixyaawii trailing 8-4 with 4:31 to go. “Powder is going to be one of the bet- ter teams in the league,” rivera said. “tonight’s score isn’t indicative of their ability — we just played good.” See Nixyaawii, Page B2 Staff photo by Kathy Aney Staff photo by Kathy Aney Jordan Ramirez (23), of Hermiston, goes up for a shot as Richland’s Ryan Kriskovich (2) defends during Friday’s game at the Dawg House. Jazlyn Romero (22) launches a shot during Friday’s game against Richland at the Dawg House. Hermiston boys post strong first quarter before richland runs away richland rallies in second half to beat Hermiston girls By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian F or 11 minutes Friday night, Hermiston hung with the best team in the Mid-Columbia Conference. But once richland got into the swing of things, the Bull- dogs found themselves in a whole heap of trouble as the Bombers rolled to an 86-59 victory at the dawg House. “they are good,” Hermis- ton coach Casey arstein said. “We didn’t help ourselves out with our shot selection, and I’m a little disappointed in our effort on the boards. We have By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian BOX SCORE Richland 15 20 31 20 — 86 Hermiston 19 4 16 20 — 59 RICHLAND — Kriskovich 4, Guice 20, Sanderson 17, Hofstad 3, Streufert 8, Northrop 25, Kump 2, Robertson 2, Schuster 5. HERMISTON — Andreason 10, Ra- mos 1, Ortiz 13, James 6, Madrigal 6, Ramirez 13, Mendez 10. to play better.” Cole northrop scored a game-high 25 points for the See Hermiston, Page B2 W hat started out as a runaway game for Hermiston on Fri- day night, ended with richland applying the emergency brake. the Bombers, who trailed 33-19 at the half, outscored Hermiston 46-28 in the second half to eke out a 65-61 victory over the Bulldogs at the dawg House. “at the beginning of the game, I said it would come down to who controlled the tempo of the game,” Hermiston coach Juan rodriguez said. “In BOX SCORE Richland 9 10 24 22 — 65 Hermiston 20 13 14 14 — 61 RICHLAND — Jor.Clark 11, Garza 14, Smith 2, H.Pierce 1, Gall 6, Jay.Clark 15, Davis 2, G.Pierce 12, Holm 2. HERMISTON — Young 5, Ray 8, Byrd 2, Stefanie 4, Dowdy 4, Her- nandez 2, Romero 21, Thomas 15. the first half, we were excited to play. In the second half, we played at their tempo, and their See Dawgs, Page B2 Staff photo by E.J. Harris Nixyaawii’s Mick Schimmel lays the ball in guarded by Powder Valley’s Domnick Grende (21) and Omar Benites in the Golden Eagles’ 83-52 win against the Badgers on Friday in Mission. With a YouTube assist, a young rider eyes bull market in NYC By JENNA FRYER Associated Press Ezekiel Mitchell played foot- ball and ran track because he didn’t have the background or money to learn how to ride a bull. So he did what teenagers do: Watched youtube. the video tutorials launched Mitchell’s quest to become a pro- fessional bullrider, a journey that takes him to Madison Square Gar- den ranked no. 2 in the world for Professional Bull riding’s sea- son opener in new york City that runs through Sunday. He’s the only black rider in the 35-rider field in PBr’s top series. Mitchell’s debut on one of the sport’s biggest stages caps a whirl- wind nine months in which he received a call from PBr about an opening for a rider while he was sit- ting in class at Hill College in texas. He accepted the slot last april and days later was riding for the first time in the elite division in Billings, Montana. He was a winner on the tour by november and skyrocketed his way through the world rankings. His rapid ascent began when he was 14 and turned to the inter- net for help with his interest in bulls. Mitchell is from rockdale, texas, and one of 11 children. He had been to rodeos with his father, a horse dentist. His family assumed he’d become a veterinarian and pursue a sensible career. “there was a lot of contro- versy between me and my mother,” Mitchell told the associated Press on Friday, hours before his first career ride at the Garden. “My parents wanted me to be a vet or PBR via AP/Andre Silva, File See Rodeo, Page B2 In this Oct. 27, 2018, file photo, Ezekiel Mitchell rides Last Chance during a bull riding event in Colorado Springs, Colo.