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A10
Adebayo has 22 points, Heat down Blazers 107-98
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Bam Adebayo
scored 22 points and Jimmy Butler
added 20 to lead the Miami Heat to a
107-98 victory over the Portland Trail
Blazers on Sunday night, April 11.
The Heat, who have won six of
their last seven games, led by as
many as 20 points early in the fourth
quarter.
CJ McCollum and Norman
Powell each finished with 17 points
for the Blazers, who were hurt by
17 turnovers. Miami’s aggressive
defense held Damian Lillard to just
12 points on an off night when he
made just three shots from the field,
all 3-pointers.
adebayo said it was important to
set a tone to start a four-game road
trip.
“We were just trying to really
hone in on defense. We just really felt
with this team that’s how you win,”
adebayo said. “We were able to get
stops and get into transition and get
a few dunks. That’s why we won by
a lot.”
The Heat were without Victor
Oladipo indefinitely because of right
knee soreness. Oladipo, acquired by
the Heat on March 25 in a trade with
Houston, was injured in the fourth
quarter of Miami’s victory over the
los angeles lakers on Thursday,
April 8.
Kendrick Nunn started in Olad-
ipo’s place. Nunn, who didn’t play
in six straight games after injuring
his ankle early in a March 26 game
against Charlotte, finished with 15
points.
“We know on the road we have
to be able to defend at a high level,”
Heat coach erik spoelstra said. “Our
defense has to travel. It’s a key to our
success.”
The Blazers started Jusuf Nurkic,
who sat out of the Saturday night,
april 10, victory over the detroit
Pistons due to injury management
of knee inflammation. In his place,
Enes Kanter set a franchise record
with 30 rebounds in the game, which
the Blazers dominated 118-103.
Blazers coach Terry Stotts said
he was hesitant to blame portland’s
lackluster performance on the back-
to-back. The Heat hadn’t played
since April 8.
“To be honest, i thought we
See Blazers, Page A11
EOU sweeps player
of the week honors
Mountaineers finish
season ranked No. 20
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Sisay Hurty, a Stanfield High School senior, finished first in the 2A/1A state cross-country championships at
Cheadle Lake Park in Lebanon on Saturday, April 10, 2021.
Bringing home the title
Stanfield’s Sisay Hurty
wins 2A/1A state
cross-country title by
nearly 2 seconds
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
EBANON — There is a perk
to being a state champion
— you get to pick where the
team will eat its post-race meal.
sisay Hurty chose red robin
and its bottomless basket of fries
after winning the 2A/1A state
cross-country title on saturday,
L
april 10, at Cheadle lake park.
The Stanfield senior crossed
the finish line in a personal best 16
minutes, 25.99 seconds over the
5,000-meter course, surprising even
himself.
“I was just trying to get into the
top 10 and beat Trevor (Nichols
of Heppner),” Hurty said. “Then I
beat everyone. i wasn’t expecting to
win.”
Hurty beat second-place Brandon
Williams of East Linn Christian by
nearly 2 seconds, and the Stanfield/
Echo boys team finished seventh in
the team standings with 191 points.
Union (48) won the team title.
Hurty started out the race in
the top pack of runners. Midway
through the first of two laps around
the park, Hurty and two other
runners had separated themselves
from the pack.
“When we started the second
lap, I thought I would just stick with
them until I died,” Hurty said. “I’m
not sure what happened. We were
on the second lap, i passed them and
got a little ahead of them. I thought
i would die and they would pass me.
It never happened.”
Hurty is the first Stanfield runner
See Title, Page A11
eOu headed back to national tournament
East Oregonian
KaNsas CiTy, Mo. — The
Naia announced Monday, april
12, its qualifying teams and opening
round pairings for the 2020 NAIA
Women’s Volleyball National Cham-
pionship presented by Marriot south
Sioux City Riverfront.
No. 8 ranked Eastern Oregon
University made the final cut and
will host an opening-round match,
appearing in its seventh consecutive
Naia National Tournament.
The 48-team event will get under-
way with 24 National Championship
Opening round matches at campus
locations on saturday, april 17.
The Mountaineers will play
host to the University of California,
Merced, in the opening round. eOu
earned an automatic qualifying bid
to this year’s national tournament
after finishing the regular season
undefeated at 15-0 overall and going
14-0 in Cascade Collegiate Confer-
ence play. entering the Naia post-
season, eOu currently boasts a 16-1
overall record.
The Bobcats feature an overall
record of 7-6 and 5-6 in California
Pacific Conference play. UC Merced
made this year’s national tourna-
ment by winning the 2020 Cal pac
Tournament Championship match
over University of Saint Kather-
ine. The Mountaineers and Bobcats
will square off on April 17 with first
serve set for 5 p.m. inside Quinn
Coliseum.
The Cascade Collegiate Confer-
ence had two other teams reach the
national tournament, tournament
champion No. 13 ranked Corban
and an at-large choice of Bushnell
University, making its first appear-
ance in the tournament.
After opening rounds, the action
inside the Tyson events Center starts
with two days of pool play on April
27-28. The top team in each pool will
advance to the elimination bracket
on April 29. The semifinals will be
played on april 30 and the national
champion will be crowned on May
1 with the first serve set for 7 p.m.
CsT on espN3.
la GraNde — The eastern
Oregon football team ended its
season with a road win, a top 25
ranking and a sweep of the Fron-
tier Conference players of the week
selections.
The Mountaineers finished the
spring season ranked No. 20 in the
final regular season NAIA Football
FirstDown PlayBook Top-25 Poll,
which was released sunday, april
11. eastern posted an overall record
of 3-1 with the same mark in confer-
ence play. For eOu, the team ended
the year with a 21-6 road win over
Montana state university-Northern
Taking home Frontier Confer-
ence Player of the Week honors
for Eastern Oregon were John
Lesser for offense, Sage DeLong
for defense and Zachary Cahill for
special teams.
Lesser rushed for 172 yards in
the win for EOU
and one touch-
dow n on 29
carries. His touch-
down was the first
of the game en
route to a 15-point
win for the Moun-
Cahill
taineers.
d e l o n g
recorded eight
solo tackles, six
assisted tackles,
five tackles for
loss (-19 yards)
and 2½ quarter-
back sacks.
DeLong
Cahill once
again handled
all of the kicking
duties for EOU.
He was 3-for-3
on PATs for the
Mountaineers in
the season finale.
as a punter, he
Lesser
had five punts for
200 yards, including a 64-yard
boot.
Three Mountaineers named
CCC athletes of the week
East Oregonian
la GraNde — The Cascade
Collegiate Conference announced
its embrace Health-santiam
Hospital Athletes of the Week on
Monday, april 12, and once again
eastern Oregon university had
multiple athletes make the weekly
list.
A trio of athletes — Max
McCullough for men’s basketball,
Kiley McMurtrey for volleyball and
Cody Milmine for men’s outdoor
track — brought home the weekly
awards for EOU.
For McCullough, this is his
second weekly award for the 2020-
21 season. last weekend, he had a
pair of 20-point games as the Moun-
taineers split their conference home
opening series against Oregon
Tech. On Friday, april 9, he had
22 points on 9-for-16 shooting and
grabbed five rebounds. In the Satur-
day, april 10, contest, McCullough
scored 28 points, including the
game-winning 3-pointer that lifted
EOU past OIT at the buzzer for the
90-87 win. He shot 11-for–19 in the
win to go along with seven boards
and seven assists.
McMurtrey picks up her fourth
CCC Volleyball Defender of the
Week honor for the spring season.
she once again anchored the back
row for the EOU defense last week-
end, as they earned a runner-up
finish in the CCC
volleyball tour-
nament. On april
9, she posted 12
digs in the Moun-
taineers’ sweep
of Bushnell in
the semifinals.
in the champi- McCullough
onship match
against Corban,
she tallied 26 digs
and had a service
ace.
Milmine picks
up his second
CCC we ek ly
McMurtrey
honor for the
year and his first
for the outdoor
season. He was
named Outdoor
Track Athlete of
the Week after
posting a top
five finish in the
100-meter dash at
Milmine
the War XiV invi-
tational. He placed fifth running a
time of 10.84 seconds. His time is
the fifth fastest in program history
for the outdoor season.
SPORTS SHORT
Matsuyama becomes first Japanese in Masters green jacket
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
auGusTa, Ga. — The pres-
sure was even more than Hideki
Matsuyama could have imag-
ined when he stood on the first tee
on sunday, april 11, at augusta
National. so was the emotion
when he walked off the 18th green
as the first Masters champion from
golf-mad Japan.
His arms securely inside the
sleeves of the green jacket, he
thrust them in the air.
Ten years after he made a ster-
ling debut as the best amateur
at the Masters, the 29-year-old
Matsuyama claimed the ultimate
prize and took his place in history.
Whether he’s Japan’s greatest
player is not his concern.
“However, I’m the first to win a
major,” he said through his inter-
preter. “And if that’s the bar, then
I’ve set it.”
Staked to a four-shot lead, the
nerves stayed with Matsuyama
from the time he hit his opening
tee shot into the trees to back-to-
back birdies that led to a six-shot
lead to a few nervous moments at
the end when Xander Schauffele
made a late run at him.
Only when he belted his drive
down the 18th fairway and twirled
the club in his hands could he
feel this victory was in hand. He
played so well for so long that
three bogeys over the last four
holes made this Masters look
closer than it was.
He closed with a 1-over 73 for
a one-shot victory over Masters
rookie Will Zalatoris (70).
Schauffele ran off four straight
birdies to get within two shots
with three holes to play, only to
hit 8-iron into the water on the
par-3 16th for a triple bogey that
ended his hopes. He shot a 72 with
a triple bogey and a double bogey
on his card and tied for third with
Jordan Spieth (70).
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Hideki Matsuyama, of Japan, waves his cap after winning the Masters
golf tournament on Sunday, April 11, 2021, in Augusta, Ga.