E AST O REGONIAN
Thursday, February 21, 2019
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CHRIS
CHAMBERS
The 138-pound Pendleton
senior is going to his first state
wrestling tournament.
A8
Pendleton
basketball
teams set
for IMC
tourney
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
This winter hasn’t been
kind to the Intermountain
Conference.
Nearly a week’s worth of
school days have been canceled
due to inclement weather all
across the league, and with that,
their accompanying basketball
games. The entire second half
of the regular season has yet to
be completed, and the Feb. 27
cutoff date is quickly approach-
ing. because it would be nearly
impossible to finish six games
for every school in the next
seven days, something had to
be done.
Luckily, the IMC’s athletic
directors have a solution.
starting on Thursday, Feb.
21, a league tournament will
be held to close out the regu-
lar season. Teams that win on
Thursday will move to round
two on saturday, Feb. 23, and
the district championship game
will follow on Tuesday, Feb. 26.
Losing teams from Thurs-
day’s games will compete for
third place starting Feb. 25.
The higher-seeded team
from each matchup will host.
The Pendleton girls (8-12,
4-2 IMC), currently ranked
at No. 3 in the IMC, will host
the bottom-ranked hood river
Valley eagles to kick off the
tournament on Thursday at
6:30 p.m. at Warberg Court.
The No. 2 Pendleton boys
(15-5, 5-1 IMC) will bypass the
day-one contest and play the
winner of Thursday’s dalles/
ridgeview matchup on satur-
day at blue Mountain Commu-
nity College. The tip-off time
has yet to be scheduled.
New players
could help
Trail Blazers
in stretch run
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Senior Chris Chambers wins IMC
district title, earns trip to state
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
C
hris Chambers still is
trying to wrap his head
around winning a district
wrestling title two weeks
ago.
The gold medal and
framed bracket help remind the Pendle-
ton senior that it is not a dream.
“It was kind of one of those things you
don’t believe,” Chambers said. “at the
start of the season if you would have said
I would be a district champion, I would
not have believed it. everything went
perfect.”
Chambers, who won the 138-pound
title at the Intermountain Conference
district Tournament, will be joined by
13 of his teammates at the 5a state tour-
nament Friday and saturday at Veterans
Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
“I’ve been there before, but I haven’t
competed,” Chambers said. “They took
me last year as an extra workout part-
ner. When I was a freshman and sopho-
more, I went to watch my brother (scott)
wrestle.”
scott will not be able to repay the
favor, as he is serving a mission for The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
saints in Mexico.
Chambers has made sure to keep his
older brother in the loop on his recent
success.
“I’ve been rubbing it in his face that he
didn’t win a district title,” Chambers said
with a laugh. “It’s always about one-up-
ping your brother.”
and if there is a state medal won this
weekend?
“Oh, yeah, I’ll tell him all about it,”
Chambers said.
Hard work pays off
brian Chambers wrestled for Wash-
ington hall of Fame coach ron seibel at
Moses Lake high school, and he had his
boys in the sport at a young age.
“I started wrestling in the third grade,”
Chris Chambers said. “When I got into
high school, I started doing it all year
around. I’m not a naturally gifted athlete.
I was just thinking about my freshman
year when I didn’t win a match at district,
and now I’m a district champion.”
Pendleton coach Fred Phillips said
Chambers has worked hard for every-
thing he’s achieved.
“he’s worked harder than any other
guy the past four years,” Phillips said.
“he’s not a natural athlete like some
of the other guys. he did not hit the
coaches’ radar when he was younger.
See Chambers, Page A9
“HE’S WORKED HARDER THAN ANY OTHER GUY THE PAST FOUR YEARS
... HE’S ONE OF THOSE BOYS WHO MAKES COACHING WORTHWHILE.”
Fred Phillips, Pendleton High School wrestling coach
enes Kanter, rodney
hood join the team
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
POrTLaNd — The Port-
land Trail Blazers find them-
selves in much the same posi-
tion as last season heading into
the post-all-star break stretch
run.
They’re coming off a con-
fidence-boosting win over
Golden state.
One thing is new this year,
however. The blazers made a
couple of key moves before the
break to shore up their bench
and to help propel them into the
playoffs.
Portland resumes its season
on Thursday at the brooklyn
Nets, the first of a grueling sev-
en-game road swing.
The game will likely mark
the blazers debut of enes
Kanter, signed just before the
break.
Kanter was waived by the
Knicks following the trade
deadline. he was once a starter
in New york but he fell out of
the rotation when the team
turned its focus to younger
players.
The center from Turkey
averaged 14 points and 10.8
rebounds in 115 games over
two seasons.
“as far as the rotation, that
should be pretty seamless. he’ll
get the backup five minutes,”
See Blazers, Page A9