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A10
Oregon clinches Pac-12 title with 80-67 over Oregon State
Associated Press
Amanda Loman/Associated Press
Oregon’s Eric Williams Jr. (50) dunks against Oregon State
during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in
Corvallis on Sunday, March 7, 2021.
cOrVaLLIs — Will richardson
scored a career-high 22 points and
Oregon made a season-high 15 3-point-
ers in beating Oregon state 80-67 on
Sunday night, March 7, to finish as the
Pac-12 conference’s regular season
champion for the second straight year.
Oregon has won five straight in just a
span of 11 days and is 10-2 since Feb. 4.
Richardson finished with career-
high six-made 3s and only missed once
from beyond the arc. as a team, it was
the most made 3s by a ducks unit since
2017 when they went 11 for 24. Oregon
finished 15-for-23 (65.2%) from deep.
“you know the guys have been
through a lot, but they really came
together,” Oregon coach dana altman
said. “I thought we were really
connected that first half. Second half,
we gave up too many baskets, but I
really thought our energy level was
good, our ball movement was good.
We finished it off with some good 3s.
But, really, really good effort, even on
the boards.”
eugene Omoruyi scored 18 points
for Oregon, eric Williams Jr. 14, and
chris duarte and LJ Figueroa each
scored 10.
Oregon (19-5, 14-4) built a 26-10
lead and never trailed. They led by
double figures for most of the remain-
der.
ethan Thompson scored 16 points
for Oregon state (14-12, 10-10), Warith
VOLLEYBALL
alatishe 14, Jarod Lucas 12, and roman
silva 10.
“We got off to a slow start offen-
sively. The whole objective was to
pound it inside, and I think once they
got a little bit of a lead, we thought we
were going to just shoot our way back
into it, rather than staying on plan. It’s
just a little bit of our experience and
immaturity,” Beavers coach Wayne
Tinkle said.
Oregon state faces ucLa on Thurs-
day, March 11, in the post-season
conference tournament in Las Vegas.
Oregon is the tournament’s top seed.
On March, it will face the winner of
the Wednesday, March 10, matchup
between arizona state and Washing-
ton state.
TRACK & FIELD
RIVALRY RENEWED
dawgs, Bucks set to
meet on volleyball
court for first time
since 2017
Heppner
grad earns
All-America
honors
eOu’s hunter Nichols
takes fifth at NAIA
nationals in 1,000 meters
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
herMIsTON — Volleyball
in the spring is not something
coaches are used to, but after a
year with zero high school sports,
they are willing to adjust and
make things work.
“having a season this time of
year provides challenges,” herm-
iston high school coach Becky
Wadekamper said. “It’s been more
of a struggle than most people
realize. We are trying to do the
best we can.”
Pendleton high school coach
amanda Lapp agrees.
“I think the girls are more
than excited to be on the floor, no
matter the conditions or the rules,”
Lapp said. “They are so jazzed to
play. It’s nice to see the light in
their eyes.”
hermiston and Pendleton
opened their seasons this past
week. The Bulldogs beat The
dalles in straight sets, 25-23,
25-16, 25-23. The Bucks split their
matches, beating redmond 21-25,
25-14, 25-14, 25-15, and dropping
a 25-8, 25-17, 25-9 match to Bend.
The former columbia river
conference foes will meet for the
first time since 2017 on Thursday,
March 11, as hermiston hosts the
Bucks at 7 p.m.
“I’m not going to lie,” Wadeka-
mper said. “I’m excited to play
Pendleton again. I was a head
coach in the crc and we won two
league championships and went to
state once. We battled with them,
we always do. It didn’t matter
what our records were, it was fun.
It was never a nasty rivalry.”
The Bulldogs last beat the
Bucks at the Westview Tourna-
ment on Oct. 1, 2016. Pendleton
has won the past five matches
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
See Volleyball, Page A11
Pendleton’s Maureen Davies (10) hits the ball past Scout Reagan (7), of Hermiston, on Oct. 17, 2017, at
Warberg Court.
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
yaNKTON, s.d. — hunter Nichols
did a good job of channeling his nerves
into a top-5 finish on Saturday, March
6, at the NaIa Indoor National Track &
Field championships.
The easter n Oregon univer-
sity sophomore turned in a time of 2
minutes, 32.51 seconds to finish fifth
in the 1,000 meters,
and earn all-america
honors. he was seeded
seventh going into the
finals.
“I was really
nervous the whole day,”
said Nichols, a 2019
Nichols
heppner high school
graduate. “I can kind of
calm my nerves, but it was a whole other
kind of nervous.”
Running in the finals at the Ruth
donohoe First dakota Fieldhouse at
Mount Marty university, Nichols led
the first lap, moved between first and
second in the second lap, then finished
fifth by the end of the five-lap race.
“I thought I could get between fourth
and sixth,” Nichols said. “I was never
less than fifth. I wasn’t going to settle
for last — that’s my competitive drive.”
at the start of the season, the 1,000
meters was a different event for Nichols,
but now he said he is starting to embrace
the event.
“It’s starting to grow on me,” he said.
“I’m learning how to run it right and be
tactical.”
It was Nichols’ first trip to nationals,
and it’s one he won’t soon forget.
“The past two weeks are ones I won’t
forget, for sure,” he said. “It was a cool
experience. I know there is a lot more to
come. I’m thinking about the future and
what there is to come.”
See Nichols, Page A11
SPORTS SHORT
No. 4 Stanford routs No. 9 UCLA to win Pac-12 title
W.G. RAMIREZ
Associated Press
Las VeGas — red and white
confetti littered the basketball court
inside the Mandalay Bay events
center on sunday night, March
7, erica Banks’ hit song “Buss It”
blared through the sound system,
and stanford’s women’s basket-
ball players broke from posing for
a celebratory picture to perform the
popular Tik Tok dance.
It seemed only fitting, after
Kiana Williams scored 26 points
to lead No. 4 stanford to the Pac-12
Tournament championship with a
75-55 win over No. 9 ucLa.
“When the confetti came down
it was time to celebrate, time to
dance,” Williams said. “We have
business to take care of (in the
Ncaa Tournament) in san anto-
nio, my hometown. We want to be
the last team standing.”
stanford, which has made the
Pac-12 championship game 18
times in 20 total tournaments,
improved to 14-4 in the finals
while winning its third title in
five years.
Lexie hull added 24 points
while Haley Jones finished with 10
points and 13 rebounds for stan-
ford (25-2).
“We really came out aggres-
sive,” stanford coach Tara
Vanderveer said. “We got a lot of
different contributions. It’s a total
team effort.”
Michaela Onyenwere led
ucLa (16-5) with 30 points.
Charisma Osborne finished with
11 points and five rebounds for the
Bruins.
The game was a renewal of one
of the more storied rivalries in Pac
12 postseason history, as stanford
has played ucLa more than any
other team in the Pac-12 Tour-
nament. The cardinal improved
to 11-1 against the Bruins in the
event, including four wins in
championship meetings.
Isaac Brekken/Associated Press
Stanford forward Cameron Brink, center left, and guard Kiana Wil-
liams, center right, celebrate after defeating UCLA following an
NCAA college basketball game in the Pac-12 women’s tournament
championship on Sunday, March 7, 2021, in Las Vegas.