Wednesday, December 22, 2021
A9
SPORTS
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Wallowa breaks into the win column Cougars
earn
two easy
victories
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA — The Wallowa
Cougars not only fi nished on top
in the Helix Basketball Tourna-
ment, but got a win in a pre-
view of an Old Oregon League
matchup, handling Griswold on
Saturday, Dec. 18, 49-19.
“We went out, started off a
little slow and then they picked
it up,” head coach Deon Chan-
dler said.
The matchup against the
Grizzlies was never close, as
Wallowa opened a 13-point
fi rst-quarter lead and added on
throughout the night. The lead
grew to 28-6 at halftime and
remained at 22 after three quar-
ters before the Cougars settled
in for the 30-point victory.
Gabe Nobles led the way for
Wallowa, as the freshman fi n-
ished with 12 points, with eight
of those in the fi rst half. Isaac
Barnum totaled eight points and
both Willie Gibbs and Kellen
Knifong scored six points.
“They really had fun (Sat-
urday),” Chandler said. “They
got a taste of a win, now they
got two wins under their belt. It
seems like we’re going the right
way. We just gotta keep pushing
hard.”
Wallowa (2-5 overall) next
meets Stanfi eld Monday, Dec.
27, at the Bouncin’ Cancer
Tournament in Echo.
Also Saturday
Imbler 36, Enterprise 33:
The Enterprise boys found their
off ense after a fi rst-half struggle
and nearly completed a come-
back in their fi nal game at the
Union Christmas Classic, but a
half-court heave at the buzzer
just missed as the Outlaws fell
Saturday, Dec. 18, to previously
winless Imbler, 36-33.
“We just couldn’t get the
basketball to fall,” head coach
Kyle Crawford said. “We had
opportunities. Sometimes it
was like defying physics. I felt
like momentum was on our side
(in the second half). We came
within three when the fourth
quarters started, and we just
couldn’t get over the hump.”
Enterprise managed just
four fi rst-half fi eld goals and
found itself behind at the break,
19-9. Spencer Decker, who had
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Wallowa’s Gabriel Nobles shoots between a pair of Enterprise defenders Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021.
a game-high 12 points, net-
ted seven of them in the third
quarter as the Outlaws rallied
to within 24-21. They came up
short, though, and slipped to
their seventh straight loss.
“It’s defi nitely hard to come
off of losses, but I think my boys
and I are going to hopefully per-
severe,” Crawford said. “This
next week, hopefully we’ll fi nd
something positive to go off of
and fi nd that elusive W.”
Gideon Gray added seven
points for Enterprise (1-7 over-
all) who, after seeing their Mon-
day game at Nixyaawii canceled
due to road conditions, host
Imbler in a rematch Wednes-
day, Dec. 22, in the fi rst of three
straight home contests.
Joseph 61, Grant Union
37: The Joseph boys basketball
team found a rhythm after the
fi rst quarter and coasted to its
second win of the season, rout-
ing Grant Union in the 13 Mile
Shootout Saturday, Dec. 18,
61-37.
“We’re
hopefully
turn-
ing a new page,” head coach
Olan Fulfer said. “We’re fi gur-
ing out what we can and can’t
do. We’re defi nitely improving
really quickly, actually. One of
the coaches mentioned to one
of my assistants that we came
(looking like) one team and left
another team.”
The Eagles turned the game
around in the second quarter,
pouring in 19 points to turn a
fi ve-point fi rst quarter defi cit
into a 29-19 lead at the half,
then broke the game wide open
in the third, dropping 20 points
— including 11 from Blade
Suto — for a 49-27 advantage.
Three Eagles reached double
fi gures in the scorebook, with
Brad Wilcox leading the way
with 16 points, including seven
in the second quarter to help
spark the off ense.
Brad Wilcox had his best
game as an Eagle,” Fulfer said.
“He was aggressive going to the
hole.”
Hayden Hite added 14 points
— half of them in the fi rst quar-
ter — and Suto also had 14
points.
Joseph (2-5 overall) is off
until Dec. 28 when it travels to
face Ione/Arlington.
Friday
Wallowa 45, Umatilla JV
40: Wallowa got into the win
column for the fi rst time in the
2021-22 season, building an
early lead against the Umatilla
JV and holding on for a 45-40
win Friday, Dec. 17, at the Helix
Basketball Tournament.
Wallowa held the lead most
WALLOWA — The Wallowa
Cougars locked up a victory in
an Old Oregon League preview
game, knocking off Helix Tourna-
ment host Griswold, 46-19, on Sat-
urday, Dec. 18.
After a fi rst quarter that saw
Wallowa lead 12-6, the Cougars
broke the game open in the second
to take a commanding 33-10 lead
at the break. Zoe Hermens scored
all 13 of her points in the second to
power the off ensive surge.
“I saw some good things,” head
coach Greg Oveson said of the
weekend. “Can we keep building
on (it)? I sure hope so. I saw us
do something — we actually ran
an off ense some the other night.
That’s been a real struggle. I think
we’re getting better. We don’t have
a game next week, but the next
we have Stanfi eld, Condon and
Sherman.”
Sophie Moeller scored 16
points to lead the Wallowa off ense,
netting 10 of those points in the
opening half. Wallowa also got six
points from both Haley Brockamp
and Abby Straight.
The win, which was Wallowa’s
second in a row, marked the fi rst
time the Cougars had back-to-back
wins since late in the 2019-2020
season.
Wallowa (4-3 overall) is off
until Monday, Dec. 27, when it
plays Stanfi eld at Echo’s Bouncin’
Cancer Tournament.
I thought the girls did a pretty
good job,” Oveson said. “Hope-
fully those last three preseason
games we’ll fi nd out where we
are.”
of the night, leading by eight
after one quarter, staking claim
to a 20-15 halftime lead and
continuing to hold a 36-30 mar-
gin after three quarters. Uma-
tilla hung tight in the second
half before the Cougars held on.
“I think they came within
one or two,” head coach Deon
Chandler. “I talked to the guys,
called a timeout. We had three
bad passes that they went down
and scored on. (After that) they
went out and took care of busi-
ness. …We pulled out the W. It
was a really exciting game for
them.”
The Cougars got a big night
from Isaac Barnum as the
6-foot-4 freshman had his best
scoring eff ort of the season, fi n-
ishing with 17 points, including
13 in the second half.
“He probably had about 20
rebounds. He played one heck
of a game,” Chandler said.
Gabe Nobles added 10 points
and Ryder Goller scored nine
points.
Prairie City 64, Joseph 58:
The Joseph boys basketball
team nearly completed a come-
back from a 16-point fi rst-quar-
ter defi cit before falling to Prai-
rie City, 64-58, Friday night,
Dec. 17, in their fi rst game of
Union 45, Enterprise 36: The
Enterprise girls basketball team
controlled the fi rst half of action
See Boys, Page A10
See Girls, Page A10
Also Saturday
WRESTLING
Outlaws get two second-place fi nishers at Elgin, tie for sixth
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ELGIN — Enterprise saw
two wrestlers go undefeated
during round-robin action at
the John Rysdam Memorial
Tournament in Elgin on Fri-
day, Dec. 17, then had two
second-place fi nishes and a
third-place fi nisher Satur-
day, Dec. 18.
As a team, the Outlaws
tied for sixth with 43 points
on Saturday.
Tegan Evans went 1-1
Friday at 145 pounds, earn-
ing a 5-4 sudden victory
over Weiser, Idaho’s Aaron
Despain, and dropping a 6-1
decision to Pine Eagle’s Will
Seggerman. Saturday, Evans
took second at the same
weight, edging Pine Eagle’s
Cohen Simpson by a 5-3
decision, topping Despain
again, this time by a 10-2
major decision in the semifi -
nals, and then falling to Seg-
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Tegan Evans, bottom, of Enterprise, is shown wrestling during
the Enterprise Kickoff on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021.
german again, this time in
the fi nals by fall.
Gabby De Lapena went
2-1 in the girls division Fri-
day, dropping a match by fall
to Weiser’s Audrey Deleon,
earning a 10-5 decision over
Grant Union’s June Wolf,
and defeating Grant Union’s
Majors Morgan. Saturday,
she wrestled the same com-
petitors to similar outcomes
to take second. She dropped
a match to Deleon by a 15-0
technical fall, then pinned
Wolf and wrapped things up
with a pin of Morgan.
Cody Fent (170B) won
three matches Friday, pin-
ning Sean Peden of Elgin,
Riddick Hutchison of Grant
Union and Ryan Brown of
Baker. He followed on Sat-
urday by taking fourth in
the 170-pound bracket. He
again pinned Peden in the
quarterfi nals, but lost to Jus-
tin Hodge of Grant Union
by fall in the semifi nals. In
another rematch, he pinned
Brown to reach the third-
place match, and there lost
by fall to Willie Sudderth of
Weiser.
Gunnar McDowell won
two matches in the 220B
class Friday, pinning both
Ryan Jackson-Nelson of
Union/Cove and Billy Kar-
gianis of Baker. On Satur-
day, McDowell placed third
at 220 pounds. He pinned
James Dempsey of Union/
Cove, lost by fall to Weiser’s
Rylee Willet, then pinned
Jackson-Nelson
again
before fi nally earning a 4-1
decision over La Grande’s
Noah McIlmoil in the third-
place match.
Will Ogden went 2-1 in
the 195B class Friday, pin-
ning Weiser’s Alonzo Sali-
nas and Grant Union’s Sam
McCracken, and losing by
fall to Calvin Clapperton
of Weiser. Saturday, Ogden
went 1-2 in the 195 bracket
with a loss to Weiser’s Caleb
Grove by fall before another
pin of Salinas. He was
bumped in the consolation
semifi nals by Union/Cove’s
David Creech by fall.
Pearce Schnetzky went
1-2 at 138 Friday, losing two
matches by fall and earn-
ing a win by medical forfeit.
Saturday, he dropped two
matches, again by fall.
For Joseph, Jayden
McNall (120) and Aiden
Clary (182B) had the stron-
gest eff orts Friday, both
going 1-2. McNall dropped
matches by fall to Luke
Sarich and Elvis Wil-
liams, both of Weiser, and
earned a win by fall over
Elgin’s Joshua Wilson.
Clary dropped a match by
fall to Baker’s Ethan Mor-
gan, defeated Grant Union’s
Ryan Coombs by a 12-2
major decision, and lost to
La Grande’s Payton Sten-
kamp by a 6-1 decision.
Megan Brock in the girls
division, and Gavin Russell
at 160, both went 0-2, and
Dylan Rogers at 132B went
0-3, though one was a tight
9-8 decision loss to Baker’s
Riley Martin.
Saturday, Rogers went
1-2 at 132. He dropped a
match by fall to Baker’s
Sam Nelson, but then wres-
tled Nelson again, and this
time won by fall. He was
eliminated from the bracket
by Pine Eagle’s James Den-
son by fall.
See Wrestling, Page A10
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