E AST O REGONIAN
FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2019
FOLLOW US ON
TWITTER @EOSPORTS |
FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS
B1
Comets oust
Bucks from
tournament
Newsom’s 31 points not
enough for Pendleton
to get past Crater
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
Tyler Newsom scored 31 points
and hauled down eight rebounds, but
it wouldn’t be enough as Pendleton
dropped its 5A state consolation game
to Crater 78-62 on Thursday morning at
Gill Coliseum in Corvallis.
“I can’t complain, but I wish we would
have had a better showing at state,”
Bucks coach Zach Dong said. “Every
team at the state tournament is good. It’s
tough we don’t see that level of competi-
tion in our conference. It is a whole other
level and it’s tough to adjust to.”
Coupled with a 70-40 loss to Wilson-
ville in Wednesday’s quarterfi nals, the
Bucks went 0-2 in Corvallis and fi nished
the season 17-7.
The Comets (19-9) will play Thurston
at 8 a.m. Saturday in the fourth-place
game.
Crater’s 6-foot-10 sophomore Nate
Bittle was a bit more than Pendleton
could handle on Thursday morning.
Bittle fi nished with 40 points —
evenly spread throughout the game — 16
rebounds and 10 blocked shots — a sin-
gle-game state tournament record for any
classifi cation.
The previous record of nine was held
by fi ve different players. With eight
blocks against Silverton on Wednesday,
Bittle surpassed the state record of 17, set
by Don Carter of Corbett in 1994.
See Bucks, Page B2
AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer
Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic, right, posts up against Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams during the
fi rst half of an NBA basketball game in Portland on Thursday.
Thunder get wild 129-121 OT
victory over the Trail Blazers
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
P
ORTLAND — Russell West-
brook had 37 points and Paul
George added 32 points and
14 rebounds for the Oklahoma City
Thunder in a chippy 129-121 overtime
win over the Portland Trail Blazers on
Thursday night.
The victory gave the Thunder a
four-game series sweep of the Blazers
this season.
Damian Lillard had 51 points for the
Blazers, while Jusuf Nurkic added 13
points and 17 rebounds before he was
sent off with his second technical with
under a minute to go in regulation.
The teams had gone into the game
knotted for third in the Western Confer-
ence — along with the Houston Rock-
ets — with identical 39-25 records.
Westbrook’s 3-pointer in overtime
put the Thunder up 118-117 and he
made a pair of free throws to extend
the lead. After George made the sec-
ond of a pair of free throws, West-
brook’s layup gave Oklahoma City a
123-117 lead.
The Thunder led by a slim 85-83
margin going into the fourth quarter in
a game where neither side stretched the
advantage to double digits.
AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell
Westbrook, right, drives Portland Trail
Blazers guard Damian Lillard during
the fi rst half of an NBA basketball
game in Portland on Thursday.
Regulation ended with a wild fi nal
minute.
George appeared to elbow Nurkic,
who was knocked to the fl oor as Ter-
rance Ferguson made a layup that put
the Thunder up 113-111. Portland play-
ers protested, but no call was made.
Words were then exchanged
between Nurkic and George under
Portland’s basket. After a review both
received offsetting technicals, and
a foul was called on the Thunder.
Because Nurkic already had a techni-
cal, he was ejected and the Thunder
chose Blazers reserve Skal Labissiere
to make the free throws. He missed
both, but a loose-ball foul was called
on the Thunder and Al-Farouq Aminu
made both shots to tie it at 113 with 2.9
seconds left.
After a turnover by the Thunder,
the game went to overtime. But Port-
land was without Nurkic for the rest of
the way.
The Blazers were home after a
largely successful seven-game, post-
All-Star break road trip, during which
they went 5-2. But Portland was com-
ing off a 120-111 loss at Memphis on
Tuesday night.
The Thunder had lost fi ve of their
previous six games, including a 131-
120 loss at the Timberwolves on
Tuesday.
It was the fi rst chance for the home
fans to see Enes Kanter, who the Blaz-
ers picked up after he was waived by
the Knicks following the trade dead-
line. He was once a starter in New
York, but fell out of the rotation when
the team turned its focus to younger
players.
Kanter came into Thursday’s game
to a rousing ovation with 3:56 to go in
the fi rst quarter.
SPORTS SHORTS
Frenchman Nicolas Petit retakes lead in Alaska’s Iditarod
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) —
Frenchman Nicolas Petit is back in the
lead in Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog
Race.
Petit had earlier led the 1,000-mile race
and retook the top spot on Thursday. He
was fi rst to leave the checkpoint at the
ghost town of Iditarod, the halfway point
of this year’s race.
He left with all 14 of his dogs.
In second place is Aliy Zirkle. The
three-time second-place fi nisher was in
the lead earlier Thursday, when she was
fi rst to reach the Iditarod checkpoint.
For that feat, she picks up some swag.
She can decide between $3,000 in gold
nuggets or a top-end cellphone with free
service for a year.
In third place is defending champion
Joar Ulsom of Norway.
In this March 3, 2018,
fi le photo, musher
Aliy Zirkle runs her
team during the cer-
emonial start of the
Iditarod Trail Sled
Dog Race in Anchor-
age, Alaska.
AP Photo/
Michael Dinneen, File
Mariners can’t wait
to see reaction for
Ichiro in Japan
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
PEORIA, Ariz. — Jerry Dipoto never
met Ichiro Suzuki in person until the day he
was reintroduced as a member of the Seat-
tle Mariners during spring training in 2018.
Suzuki’s one request for the hoopla that
surrounded his return to the Mariners was
the news conference and ensuing activities
be kept, in his words, “casual.”
“The entourage arrived, and it looked
like the CIA arrival for the president. It was
dark windows, suburbans, and Ichiro rolled
out and he walked into my offi ce in what I
can only describe as something off the run-
ways type of suit,” Dipoto, the team’s gen-
eral manager, recalled.
See Mariners, Page B2
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File
In this Friday, Feb. 22, 2019, fi le photo, Se-
attle Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki bats during
the third inning of a spring training base-
ball game against the Oakland Athletics
in Peoria, Ariz.