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THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020
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A8
Vikings rally to escape Knights
Umatilla girls post
big second and fourth
quarters to defeat
Irrigon in EOL opener
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
UMATILLA — It may have
taken the Vikings three quarters to
fi nally shake the nerves of starting
league play, but they fi nally rallied
together when it mattered the most.
The Umatilla girls trailed behind
their Irrigon visitors for three quar-
ters and the opening two minutes of
the fourth, and used key 3-pointers
and scoring runs in the second and
fourth quarters to chip away at their
defi cit and overcome the Knights
53-49 in an Eastern Oregon League
basketball opener on Wednesday
night.
“There were a lot of nerves,”
Vikings head coach McKenzie
Davis said. “A lot of us came out
fl at-footed. I’m still waiting for us to
play a full game of basketball.”
Irrigon junior Brianna Perez and
sophomore JaLay Burns helped the
Knights to an early 5-0 lead in the
opening quarter, and Umatilla man-
aged just one basket and a point at
the line for the entire eight minutes
— both from junior Devina Mon-
real. Irrigon junior Princesa Chavez
notched a trey with four minutes
left, and Perez and freshman Joy-
lene Harrison strung together a
four-point run across the fi nal three
minutes that kept Irrigon up 12-3 at
the buzzer.
The Vikings came to life in
the second quarter, outscoring the
Knights 22-19. Umatilla would pull
within two points of a tie at 18-16,
but Chavez and Burns responded
with an 8-2 scoring run that gave
the Knights some distance at 26-18
with 3:11 left in the quarter. Irrigon
stayed ahead 31-25 at halftime.
“We went into the locker room,
and I told them one of two things
could happen,” Davis said. “Either
they could continue to play how
they were playing, or they could
step it up and show them what Uma-
tilla basketball is all about.”
Umatilla sophomore Taylor
Durfey opened the second half with
a basket that got the Vikings within
four points, and hit two at the line
for a 33-31 game two minutes later.
Umatilla junior Chantal Lemus fol-
lowed with a basket to knot the score
at 33-33, but Irrigon responded with
an eight-point streak to keep them
alive.
“We came out cold in the third
See Vikings, Page A9
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Umatilla’s Taylor Durfey (34) goes
in for a layup during the second
quarter against the Knights. The
Umatilla Viking defeated the Irri-
gon Knights 53-49 at Umatilla High
School Wednesday night.
AP Photo/Matthew Hinton
New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Wil-
liamson goes to the basket before the
start of an NBA basketball game against
the Chicago Bulls in New Orleans, Wednes-
day, Jan. 8, 2020. Williamson is not sched-
uled to play.
Pelicans project
Zion Williamson
debut for Jan. 22
By BRETT MARTEL
Associated Press
METAIRIE, La. — Zion Williamson,
the top choice in last summer’s NBA draft,
is scheduled to make his regular season
debut for the Pelicans on Jan. 22 when New
Orleans hosts the the San Antonio Spurs,
Pelicans basketball operations chief David
Griffi n said Wednesday.
“Everything’s moving in the right direc-
tion,” Griffi n said. “I really believe very
strongly he is a radically improved physical
version of himself in way that frankly we
took the extra time to ensure.”
The former Duke star has missed New
Orleans’ fi rst 41 games this season while
rehabilitating from arthroscopic surgery to
repair the lateral meniscus in his right knee.
The timeline set for his return calls for him
to miss three more games, starting with
Thursday night’s home game against Utah.
New Orleans also hosts the Los Angeles
Clippers on Saturday and visit Memphis on
Monday.
Griffi n also indicated that Williamson’s
minutes will be closely monitored and likely
limited for the time being.
“From a sustaining health standpoint,
we’re certainly going to treat him differ-
ently,” Griffi n said.
The Pelicans have gone 15-26 without
Williamson, but have won nine of their last
13 to pull within four games of the fi nal
Western Conference playoff spot with half
the season left.
The 6-foot-6, 285-pound Williamson is
relatively heavy for an NBA player, never
mind one who moves well and often soars
above the rim for the kind of dunks that
have made him an internet sensation since
high school in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
The purpose of his mid-October surgery
was to repair cartilage that serves as natu-
ral padding in the knee joint. So the club has
taken a cautious approach to his rehabilita-
tion in hopes of minimizing the possibility
of a setback.
Williamson returned to practice on Jan.
2 and more recently has been seen dunk-
ing during Pelicans pre-game warm-up
sessions.
Williamson played in four preseason
games before his injury, averaging 23.3
points and 6.5 rebounds. He had surgery in
mid-October.
He averaged 22.6 points per game at
Duke during the 2018-19 season and also
was voted to the ACC’s All-Defensive Team
after averaging 8.9 rebounds, 2.12 steals and
1.8 blocked shots per game.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Hermiston’s Trevor Wagner pins Kamiakin’s Logan Howard on Wednesday night in their 170-pound match.
Wagner and Cadenas
each have two
pins as Hermiston
improves to 5-1
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
H
ERMISTON — Trevor
Wagner and Sam Cadenas
won both of their matches
by fall to help Hermiston
pick up Mid-Columbia Conference
wins Wednesday night over Kamiakin
and Hanford.
The Bulldogs opened the night with
a 46-26 victory over Kamiakin, and
then rallied from a 16-0 defi cit to beat
Hanford 50-23.
“I think we have made leaps and
bounds from last year,” Hermiston
coach Kyle Larson said. “We have kids
who want to be in the wrestling room,
and want to be here. The attitude is
different. The work ethic is better than
it has been, and the results are showing
that. The fans are seeing that.”
The wins put the Bulldogs at 5-1 in
the MCC standings. Last year, Herm-
iston fi nished 3-5 in their fi rst year in
the conference, and lost their duals to
Kamiakin and Hanford.
Wagner (170 pounds) pinned Kami-
akin’s Logan Howard in 3:06, and
then followed with a pin of Hanford’s
Nathan Bushman in 1:29.
“Trevor is a guy we can count on,”
Larson said. “He gets bonus points
for us. He does everything hard. It
HERMISTON 46,
KAMIAKIN 26
HERMISTON 50,
HANFORD 23
106 — Aiden Favorite (H) p. Jaxon Boyce, :59.
113 — Zayne Helfer (H) won by injury default
over Payton Smith. 120 — Adrian Delgado
(H) p. Austin Hayward, 5:57. 126 — Guillermo
Ramirez Diaz (K) d. Hunter Dyer, 4-1. 132 —
Antonio Nicasio (K) p. Trevor Kirkpatrick, 2:21.
*138 — Ryan Plumb (K) p. Isaac Montes, 2:49.
145 — Jordan Franklin (H) md. Dylan Slover,
14-5. 152 — Emmanual Carrillo (H) won by for-
feit. 160 — Joel Chavez (K) md. Jaxson Gribskov,
12-3. 170 — Trevor Wagner (H) p. Logan How-
ard, 3:06. 182 — Daniel Faaeteete (H) won by
injury default over Ethan Buroker. 195 — Gilbert
Marquez (K) md. Blake Betz, 12-4. 220 — Sam
Cadenas (H) p. Stone Eskelsen, :35. 285 — Jaxin
McCallum (K) d. Dustyn Coughlin, 4-3.
106 — Aiden Favorite (Herm) won by forfeit.
113 — Aiden Garcia (Han) d. Zayne Helfer, 7-6.
120 — Adrian Delgado (Herm) won by forfeit.
126 — Hunter Dyer (Herm) tf. Rex Perkes, 19-3.
132 — Dalton McCorkle (Han) md. Trevor Kirk-
patrick, 15-5. 138 — Isaac Montes (Herm) p. Bra-
den Shahan, 3:31. 145 — Liam Lucas (Han) won
by disqualifi cation. 152 — Treyton Keller (Han)
p. Emmanual Carrillo, 5:59. 160 — Caleb Men-
denhall (Han) md. Jaxson Gribskov, 13-1. 170 —
Trevor Wagner (Herm) p. Nathan Bushman, 1:29.
182 — Daniel Faaeteete (Herm) won by forfeit.
195 — Blake Betz (Herm) d. Guillermo Alfaro,
6-4. 220 — Sam Cadenas (Herm) p. Jakobie
Reynolds, 1:53. 285 — Dustyn Coughlin (Herm)
won by forfeit.
works for him.”
Cadenas, who is ranked fourth in
the state at 220 pounds, needed just
35 seconds to pin Kamiakin’s Stone
Eskelsen, and then took down Han-
ford’s Jakobie Reynolds in 1:53.
“They have some tough kids in the
upper weights who will do good things
in the postseason,” Hanford coach
Dom Duncan said.
The Falcons opened the match with
consecutive wins at 145, 152 and 160,
and then along came Wagner at 170.
Hanford forfeited at 182, Blake beta
picked up a decision for Hermiston
at 195, and Cadenas added six points.
Another Hanford forfeit at 285 put the
Bulldogs up 27-16, and the route was
on.
In total, the Falcons forfeited four
matches.
“We were missing kids who
have fi nals tomorrow (Thursday),”
Duncan said.
That group includes state-ranked
Austin Patton at 120 pounds (7th, 4A).
“That is frustrating,” Duncan said.
“That could have been a 12-point
swing if he was there.”
Against Kamiakin, the Bull-
dogs won eight of 14 matches. Zayne
Helfer’s win by injury default at 113
put the match out of reach for the
Braves.
Aiden Favorite (106) and Adrian
Delgado (120) also had pins in the
match for the Bulldogs.
“We are chugging right along,”
Larson said. “Overall, we did a fairly
good job. The goal is the postseason.
You want to show up every day and
make sure you are a little better than
when you got there.”
Hermiston will host the Farm City
Invitational on Saturday. Other teams
include Chiawana, Othello, Irri-
gon, Heppner/Ione and Deer Park,
Washington.
Lillard leads Trail Blazers past Rockets
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
Associated Press
HOUSTON — Damian Lil-
lard scored 25 points and CJ
McCollum added 24 as the Port-
land Trail Blazers withstood
a late surge from the Houston
Rockets to get a 117-107 win
Wednesday night.
The Trail Blazers led by dou-
ble fi gures for most of the game,
but the Rockets began cutting
into the lead in the fourth. A 3
by Ben McLemore got them
within fi ve with about fi ve
minutes to go.
But McCollum and Carmelo
Anthony then made consecutive
3-pointers for Portland to make
it 111-100 with four minutes
left, and Houston didn’t threaten
again.
When Hassan Whiteside
made four points in a row,
capped by a dunk, later in the
fourth to make it 115-102, the
home fans began streaming for
the exits.
Russell Westbrook had a
triple-double with 31 points,
12 assists and 11 rebounds on
a night when James Harden
scored a season-low 13 points.
Houston lost consecutive games
for the fi rst time since a sea-
son-high three-game skid from
Nov. 20-24, and has dropped
three of its last four.
Anthony added 18 points
with 12 rebounds for Portland in
his fi rst game against Houston
since the Rockets parted ways
with him after just 10 games last
season.
The Rockets had a tough
shooting night after losing to
Memphis 121-110 on the road
Tuesday night and shot just
39.6%. Harden shot 3 of 12
and center Clint Capela was
just 7 of 14.
Houston scored the fi rst fi ve
points of the fourth quarter, but
Portland got 3s from Gary Trent,
Jr. and Anthony Tolliver to make
it 96-82.
McCollum made all of Port-
land’s points in a 6-3 spurt later
in the fourth to leave the Trail
Blazers up 102-88.
Westbrook was at the free
throw line soon after that, and he
and Lillard both received techni-
cal fouls for jawing at each other.
Houston fi nally found some
See Blazers, Page A9