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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN Wednesday, January 16, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 HERMISTON HOOPS BUCKS COME CLOSE Dawgs hold off Pasco in key MCC game By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian It wasn’t the prettiest win, but this late in the season, a win is win in the Mid-Columbia Conference. Cesar Ortiz poured in 21 points, and ryne andreason added 19 as Hermiston held off host Pasco 73-63 on Tuesday night. “Our defense has to get better this last stretch of games,” Herm- iston coach Casey arstein said. “I’m pleased with the win, and I’m proud of the guys. I saw some good things offensively in the second half, but we just need to get better defensively.” Hermiston (11-4 overall, 7-4 MCC) ended a three-game skid on the road, and kept pace with Kami- akin (7-4) in the league standings after the Braves fell to Hanford 52-46. Hermiston jumped out to a 10-0 lead to open the game, getting 3-pointers from Jordan ramirez and andrew James in the run, but Pasco came back to make it 16-13 with 22 seconds left in the quarters. andreason scored with one second remaining to stretch the lead to 18-13. Both teams went through a scor- ing drought in the second, with Pasco posting a 9-8 edge to trail 26-22 at the half. Ortiz came to life in the third, hitting three 3-pointers. Hermis- ton took a 40-29 lead with a 3 by James, but Pasco would not go away. Four different players scored points as Pasco strung together nine consecutive points to pull within 40-38 with 3:18 left in the quarter. a 3 by Ortiz gave Hermiston a 49-40 lead with 1:41 left, but Pasco went on a 6-2 run to end the quarter and cut the deficit to 51-46. “I thought we did a good job of making runs, but we have to make that push,” arstein said. “We need to stretch that lead.” See Boys, Page B2 Staff photo by Kathy Aney Pendleton and Baker players battle for a rebound during Tuesday’s nonleague game at Warberg Court. Pendleton rallies in second half to challenge Baker Bulldogs Heavens keys Pasco’s win over Hermiston By BRETT KANE East Oregonian By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian he Bucks knew Baker would challenge them. But they didn’t expect such a close game. although Pendleton trailed the visiting Baker Bulldogs by 20 points in the first half, a hot second half softened the nonleague loss to 44-37 on Tuesday night. “We came in expecting to lose tonight,” said freshman Muriel Hoisington. “But we just kept talking to each other as a team, and we got ourselves together. We were able to really compete.” The 5-foot-6 point guard posted 11 points and seven rebounds (five from the Bulldogs) to lead Pendleton. She hit the game’s first basket for a short-lived Bucks lead before Baker showed their stuff. The Bulldogs went on a 17-point run and held Pendle- ton scoreless for nearly seven minutes before putting the first quarter away 22-4. Pendleton rallied to claim the sec- ond quarter 9-3 to spark a comeback. “The girls were rattled early, but they bounced back,” said coach Kevin Porter. “I told them at halftime, ‘There are no 12-point baskets. We have to take it one basket at a time.’” Hoisington and junior Carissa Cooley hit two back-to- back 3-pointers to come within just nine points of Baker with 1:32 left in the third quarter. Hoisington and senior Katie Bradt scored six straight points to cut the deficit to seven midway through the fourth quarter and force a Baker timeout. “Baker is a legitimately great basketball team,” Porter said. “and we were able to compete with them.” Staff photo by Kathy Aney See Bucks, Page B2 Muriel Hoisington (34), of Pendleton, drives to the basket during Tuesday’s nonleague game against Baker at Warberg Court. Hermiston got off to a slow start Tuesday night, and never was able to get any momentum as host Pasco rolled to a 67-52 Mid-Co- lumbia Conference victory. “We didn’t play very well,” said Hermiston coach Juan rodriguez, whose team shot 35 percent from the floor. “It was disappointing all the way around. We had a good practice yesterday, and I thought we would be motivated to play hard. They hit some big shot that deflated us.” Hermiston (5-10 overall, 3-8 MCC) led 4-2 early on with bas- kets by Jordan Thomas and sydney stefani, but Pasco went on a 14-7 run the last 3:42 of the quarter to take a 21-12 lead. Pasco hit five 3-pointers in the first, with Aniyah Heavens hitting two. Heavens finished the game with a team-high 22 points. Pasco stretched its lead to 14 points in the second quarter, but six consecutive points by Hermis- ton trimmed the deficit to eight — 28-20. Pasco led 32-22 at the half. Hermiston got as close as 60-51 in the final quarter, but could not climb out of the hole. T See Girls, Page B2
