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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2019)
B2 SPORTS East Oregonian Saturday, January 5, 2019 Hermiston: Plays at Kamiakin today Continued from Page B1 Bombers, who improved to 7-0 in league play and 9-2 overall. “They played exactly how we thought they would,” Richland coach Earl Streufert said of the Bulldogs. “They had the intensity in the first quarter. We struggled defensively to start, but the end of the first and start of the second, we played tough.” The Bulldogs came out and took control in the first quarter as Jordan Ramirez scored nine of his 13 points to give the Bulldogs a 19-15 lead. Hermiston led 14-4 with 3:50 left in the first, but five points from Northrop helped close the gap. With 41 seconds to play in the quar- ter, Northrop scored again to make it 16-13, but Cesar Ortiz drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing for a 19-13 lead. Ryan Kriskovich scored with two seconds left for a four-point ball game. The Bulldogs extended their lead to 21-15 with a bucket by Ryne Andrea- son to open the second quarter, but those would be he only points Hermis- ton would scored until Ortiz hit a shot with 39 seconds left. In the middle, the Bombers went on a scoring spree. Northrop had 10 points Staff photo by Kathy Aney Sergio Madrigal, of Hermiston, takes aim from the corner during Friday’s game against the Richland Bombers at the Dawg House. and Garrett Streufert four, as the Bomb- ers took a 35-23 lead at the half. “I thought we dug in in the sec- ond and things got better offensively,” coach Streufert said. The Bulldogs (8-2, 4-2) fared no better in the third quarter, where the Bombers went on a 31-16 run, fueled by 13 points from Dhaunye Guice, including three 3-pointers. “You have to be able to with- stand Richland’s runs,” Arstein said. “When they went on those two runs, we couldn’t match them. The sec- ond quarter killed us, and giving up 31 in the third. You are not going to beat teams in this league giving up 86 points.” The teams played an even fourth quarter, but it was too late for the Bulldogs. “I wasn’t disappointed in the guys’ effort, but you can’t let them have extra baskets,” Arstein said. Ortiz also had 13 points for Herm- iston, while Andreason and Adrian Mendez each added 10. Guice added 20 points for the Bombers, while Cody Sanderson chipped in 17. “No. 3 (Guice) makes them work,” Arstein said. “He has some great team- mates around him.” Hermiston will play Saturday at Kamiakin, while Richland hosts Pasco. Dawgs: There were four ties in the fourth quarter Continued from Page B1 defense caused havoc. Our inexperience showed.” Richland, which never took the lead for good until the final 20 seconds of the game, went out front 52-50 midway through the fourth quarter, its first lead since 4-3. “I think the big thing, is after the half we came out with confidence and hit some shots,” Richland coach Hayley Middleton said. “We have some good talent, it’s getting them to use it.” There were four ties in the fourth quarter, the last being at 61-61 after Herm- iston’s Jazlyn Romero hit a pair of free throws. From there, Richland’s Emily Garza hit a shot with 20 seconds to play, and Jayda Clark hit a pair of free throws to finish off the game. Romero had 10 of her game-high 21 points in the first half for the Bulldogs (4-6 overall, 2-4 MCC), including seven in the sec- ond quarter. Hermiston led by as many as 17 points in sec- ond, but a 3-pointer by Jor- dyn Clark with seconds to play before the half made the score 33-19. In the the third, Hermis- ton led 40-29 with 4:20 to play, but the Bombers went on an 14-7 run to finish out the quarter and pull within 47-43. “In the first half, we let them hang around when they weren’t playing well, instead of blowing the game open,” Rodriguez said. “In the second half, we weren’t rebounding and getting the 50-50 balls.” Jordan Thomas added 15 points for Hermiston, while Jayden Ray added eight. Jayda Clark led the Bombers (6-5, 3-4) with 15 points, while Garza added 15 and Gracie Pierce 12. Nixyaawii: ‘We’ve made great PREP ROUNDUP Stanfield girls turn away progress since the preseason’ Weston-McEwen for second league victory Continued from Page B1 Nixyaawii led by just six points in the third quar- ter before Burns took mat- ters into his own hands, scor- ing 11 points in under two minutes. He sunk five more in under a minute before the buzzer ended the quarter, giv- ing the Golden Eagles a 65-41 lead — their game’s greatest advantage. “We talk about this all the time: if someone’s got it going, you best give ‘em the ball,” Rivera said of Burns’ hot second half. “He was con- fident in himself, and so was his team. He knows he has the skills to bring it. It’s his turn.” Burns would drop one more in from outside the paint in the fourth quarter before Rivera sent his bench in to finish off the game. Nixyaawii (1-0, 11-1) hosts Wallowa on Saturday for their second Old Oregon League matchup. They took the top spot in the league last season, and Rivera hopes to do it again. “I like our chances going into the league,” he said. “Our reputation is being one of the best in the OOL. Everyone is going to give us their best game. We’re a contender, for sure.” Girls The Nixyaawii girls came close, but couldn’t match Powder Valley’s intensity. The Badgers sent them away with a 38-30 loss to open Old Oregon League play on Friday night. “Powder Valley is a top- five team in the state,” said Nixyaawii coach Jeremy Maddern. “So, I thought we played really well. We han- dled their press great for as young as we are, and we were physical with them.” After trailing 16-6 at the half, Golden Eagles junior guard Lark Moses hit two straight 3’s, and senior post Ermia Butler scored a bucket to pull within two points of the Badgers. But Powder Valley out- scored them 16-13 in the fourth quarter to hold them off for good. “We have a lot of funda- mental work to do,” Maddern said. “We have a lot of kids playing without varsity expe- East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Nixyaawii’s Deven Barkley drives on Powder Valley’s Reece Dixon in the Golden Eagles’ 83-52 win against the Badgers on Friday in Mission. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Nixyaawii’s McKenzie Kiona drives past Powder Valley’s Logan Nedrow in the Golden Eagles’ 40-32 loss to the Badgers on Friday in Mission. rience. This will do us some good. We’ve made great progress since the preseason.” Butler led Nixyaawii (0-1, 7-5) with 14 points. They’ll host Wallowa on Saturday. Kendra Hart posted 26 points to help Stanfield to their second league win. The Tigers topped Weston-McE- wen at home, 66-61. Nyah Tejada followed Hart in scoring with 15 points. “It was a close one,” said Weston-McEwen coach Mike Giusti. “We missed some shots and turned over the ball too much. We weren’t very efficient offensively.” Katie Vescio and Jordyn Lambert scored 22 points each to lead the TigerScots. Stanfield (2-1, 7-6) trav- els to Knappa on Saturday for a nonleague matchup. Weston-McEwen (0-2, 6-8) will host Heppner. Girls hoops JOSEPH 53, HELIX 21 — Helix opened Old Oregon League play with a home loss to Joseph on Friday. The Eagles tore away early with a 15-2 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Arianna Krol led with nine points for the Grizzlies (0-1, 3-8). They’ll hit the road to Elgin on Saturday. NYSSA 38, RIVER- SIDE 14 — Riverside opened Eastern Oregon League play with a road loss on Friday. Faith Rosen led the Pirates with six points for the night. Riverside (0-1, 7-6) trav- els to Irrigon on Thursday. UNION 39, PILOT ROCK 27 — The Rockets took an early lead, but Union soon got away from them to hand Pilot Rock their third league loss on the road on Friday. Bre Baleztena posted 11 points to lead Pilot Rock (0-3, 6-6). They’ll host Enterprise on Saturday. PORTLAND ADVEN- TIST ACAD. 45, UMA- TILLA 32 — Umatilla dropped day two of Salem’s Crusader Classic New Year’s Invitational on Friday. The Vikings (2-10) fin- ish the Invitational on Sat- urday before returning home to tip off Eastern Oregon League play against Irrigon on Tuesday. IONE 51, CONDON/ WHEELER 24 — The Cardinals improved to 3-0 in the Big Sky League with a resounding home win over Condon/Wheeler on Friday. Ione (3-0, 8-2) will travel to Echo on Saturday. Con- don/Wheeler (1-2, 3-8) wel- comes Arlington. ECHO 51, MITCH- ELL/SPRAY 10 — The Cougars dominated Mitch- ell/Spray’s court for their third Big Sky League win on Friday. Echo (3-0, 5-6) hosts Ione on Saturday. VALE 57, IRRIGON 29 — Irrigon dropped their sea- son’s first league game on the road to Vale on Friday. The Knights (0-1, 9-4) hit the road to Umatilla on Tuesday. Boys hoops JOSEPH 45, HELIX 35 — Elijah Sprenger scored 20 of Helix’s 35 points, but it wasn’t enough to save their season’s first league game. “It was a close one,” said Grizzlies coach Zach Orem. “It was back-and-forth pretty much the entire time.” Helix (0-1, 4-7) will travel to Elgin on Satur- day to continue Old Oregon League play. CONDON/WHEELER 66, IONE 43 — Ione fell to 0-4 in the Big Sky League as Condon/Wheeler handed them a home loss on Friday. Cooper Johnson fired off 45 points to lead the Knights. JR Roque scored 12 points for the Cardinals. Condon/Wheeler (2-2, 7-4) hosts Arlington on Sat- urday. Ione (0-4, 1-10) trav- els to Echo. WESTON-MCEWEN 62, STANFIELD 47 — Blair Rudolph scored a game-high 26 points to lead the TigerScots to their sec- ond league victory. Hugo Hernandez led Stanfield with 16 points. “It was a low-effort game from us. We came out extremely unmotivated,” said Stanfield coach Devin Bailey. “I don’t know if it was the winter break blues, but Weston deserved the win.” Weston-McEwen (2-0, 4-9) hosts Heppner in Blue Mountain Conference play on Saturday. Stanfield (1-2, 4-9) travels to Knappa for a nonleague game. NYSSA 54, RIVER- SIDE 29 — The Pirates opened the Eastern Oregon League with a road loss. Francisco Barajas scored seven points to lead the team. Riverside (0-1, 5-9) resumes league play on Thursday on the road against Irrigon. UNION 64, PILOT ROCK 31 — Union sent the Rockets home with a rough league loss on Friday. “It was a terrible shoot- ing night,” said Pilot Rock coach Eric Smidt. “There wasn’t a lot of effort, or a good flow to the game.” The Rockets (0-3, 1-11) host Enterprise on Saturday. WESTERN CHRIS- TIAN 77, UMATILLA 38 — Umatilla’s nine-game streak came to a halt on Fri- day when they fell to West- ern Christian at Salem’s Cru- sader Classic New Year’s Invitational. Uriel Garcia had 14 points to lead the Vikings (10-2), who will finish the Invitational against Amity on Saturday. MITCHELL/SPRAY 61, ECHO 52 — Echo remains in search of their first league win after fall- ing on the road to Mitchell/ Spray on Friday night. The Cougars (0-4, 1-11) host Ione in Big Sky League play on Saturday. VALE 60, IRRIGON 46 — The Knights opened Eastern Oregon League play with a road loss to Vale on Friday. Irrigon (0-1, 6-8) will continue league play at Umatilla on Tuesday. Rodeo: With a YouTube assist, a young rider eyes bull market in NYC Continued from Page B1 continue to play football and run track. I was pretty good at a lot of things. My mother wasn’t really behind the idea. She limited what I could do. She didn’t ever tell me ‘No,’ but she thought I might grow out of it after a little while.” Mitchell moved from YouTube to practicing on a homemade drop barrel. A neighbor later helped him weld a mechanical bull with a car suspension. Within two years Mitchell got on his first bull. Once he turned 18, and was a qualifier for the Texas High School State Finals, he took control of his career. “I just moved out and never went back,” said Mitchell, who proved to his family he was on the right path. “They love it now. Everybody is 100 percent behind me now.” Mitchell is one of the many success stories PBR is touting as it kicks off in New York City for the 13th season with aspirations to build on its growth the last several seasons. PBR, which last year set more than 20 local event attendance records, expands this season to Los Angeles with its inaugural event at Staples Center in February. The series will be in Chi- cago, Los Angeles and New York this season. PBR CEO Sean Gleason said Friday the expansion into the Los Angeles market will be aided by the circuit’s longtime presence in nearby Anaheim, California, and promotion from the sports talent agency that purchased the series in 2015. Endeavor, formerly the William Mor- ris Agency/IMG, will try to bring exposure to the sport on the same weekend as the Oscars. “We expect that to be a great party,” Gleason said. The PBR Global Cup, a five-nation team bull rid- ing tournament, will be held next month at AT&T Stadium in Dallas and has expanded this year to include a team of Native American riders. “We’re coming off record-setting year after record-setting year and there’s a lot of excitement around the series,” Gleason said. “We just opened the New York Stock Exchange and we are hoping we kicked off a bull run for everyone.”