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Saturday, January 5, 2019
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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.