Polk County Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • November 23, 2016 11A
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Wolves turn to new faces to lead
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon’s men’s basketball
team has a new look this
season and a big chal-
lenge — how to follow a
team responsible for the
most prolific season in pro-
gram history.
Western Oregon has four
new starters — only junior
forward Tanner Omlid re-
turns — and a multitude of
players who experienced
their first game action for
the Wolves.
“Those guys last year,
some of them had gone to
school together for four
years,” coach Jim Shaw said.
“They knew each other ex-
traordinarily well as people
and players. That part is
hard to duplicate. When you
blend new people into new
roles, it’s a process. These
guys don’t know each other
very well as people or bas-
ketball players yet.”
The lack of familiarity has
led to some adjustments.
A year ago, WOU averaged
8.5 turnovers per game.
That number is up to 13.3
per contest through the
team’s first four games.
“Basketball is all about
chemistry,” Omlid said. “We
have to know how to get
guys shots, how to get the
advantage on every posses-
sion. We’re still learning. We
have to play smarter. It just
takes time.”
A season ago, Omlid was
one of the new kids on the
block after transferring from
the United States Military
Academy.
T h i s
t i m e
around,
he’s one of
the veter-
ans.
“It’s dif-
ferent,”
Berg
Omlid said.
“I’m not used to having this
big of a leadership role since
high school. I have to accept
it and play better. I have to
lead better overall and be a
better basketball player.”
The junior is already one
of the team’s top playmakers
on both ends of the court.
His quickness and anticipa-
tion makes him a threat to
get a steal and start a fast
break. On offense, he has the
range to hit the three, the
speed to get to the rim, and
the court vision to distribute
the ball to an open team-
mate.
Omlid isn’t the only threat
WOU boasts.
Junior Ali Faruq-Bey leads
the team in scoring (14.8
points per game), while jun-
ior Demetrius Trammell is
shooting 47.8 percent from
beyond the arc.
Junior Bryan Berg, a trans-
fer from Clark College, is
also expected to be a major
offensive force. Berg aver-
aged 17.6 points per game
while shooting 56 percent
from the field at Clark Col-
lege last season.
“He just had a good over-
all package of character,
work ethic and the right atti-
tude,” Shaw said. “He dis-
played a lot of positives in a
lot of different areas.”
Now it becomes a ques-
tion of how quickly the team
can come together.
“We’re really looking at it
as a day-by-day process,”
Berg said. “We are getting
stronger. We’re communicat-
ing better and becoming
better friends off the court.”
The Wolves won’t be the
same this year in offensive
style. WOU will see more of a
reliance on guard and wing
production on offense.
What that final combina-
tion of players will be re-
mains to be seen.
“Between now and Christ-
mas we want to figure out a
couple different things,”
Shaw said. “We want to see
how do we want to move
with our starting lineup and
rotation. The first month or
two, we will try a few differ-
ent things.”
A year ago, the Wolves’
success was, in part, a cul-
mination of years of playing
together. WOU, which lost to
San Francisco State 99-93 in
triple overtime on Friday
and to UC San Diego 75-63
on Saturday, hopes to find a
similar level of chemistry
and trust in a much shorter
time period.
“Last weekend was the
first time we went through
some adversity this season,”
Shaw said. “We’ll see how
they handle everything. The
ceiling for this team is to im-
prove. This is a group that
should get better. Through
all their unfamiliarity and
u n c e r t a i n t y, t h a t’s t h e
biggest challenge is to keep
working to get to know each
other better.”
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Western Oregon junior forward Tanner Omlid attempts to drive past a defender on Fri-
day night. Omlid is the only returning starter.
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Women’s basketball drops two in Chico
Itemizer-Observer staff report
CHICO, Calif. — Western
Oregon’s women’s basketball
team dropped both games
at the Coslet Classic in Cali-
fornia. The Wolves lost to
Chico State 70-67 on Friday
and Sonoma State 74-59 on
Saturday.
Ju n i o r g u a rd Sh e l by
Snook scored 25 points to
lead WOU against Chico
State. Junior forward Jas-
mine Miller added a career-
high 19 points.
Kaylie Boschma led the
Wolves against Sonoma
State with 14 points, while
Miller added 10 points and
eight rebounds, but WOU
fell behind by six after the
first quarter and could not
rally.
“Sonoma came out ready
to play, and they set the tone
in the first quarter,” coach
Holli Howard-Carpenter
said. “… I’m most disap-
pointed with our lack of
focus to execute our defen-
sive game plan. We didn’t
take steps forward this
weekend, but I know they
will buckle down and get
better this week.”
Western Oregon returns
home to host Oregon Tech
Saturday at 2 p.m. The
Wolves open conference
play at home on Dec. 1
against Seattle Pacific.
VOLLEYBALL ENDS SEA-
SON WITH LOSSES: Western
Oregon’s volleyball team
closed out the 2016 season
with a pair of losses. The
Wolves fell to Central Washing-
ton 25-20, 28-26, 25-22 on
Thursday before losing to
Northwest Nazarene 25-18, 25-
23, 25-22 on Saturday.
Junior Alisha Bettinson
recorded 10 kills and 13 digs
against Central Washington.
Senior Amanda Short had 11
kills against Nor thwest
Nazarene.
Western Oregon finished the
season with a 10-17 record
overall and a 7-13 mark in
Great Northwest Athletic Con-
ference play.
Dallas: Earhart rushes Central: Mendazona
for 108 yards, one TD throws for 280 yards
Continued from Page 10A
After a scoreless first quar-
ter, a botched snap on a
punt gave Lebanon the ball
on Dallas’ 4-yard line. The
Warriors scored a touch-
down on the next play and
added a field goal just before
halftime to take a 10-0 lead
into the break.
Senior running back Tan-
ner Earhart scored on a 7-
yard run to pull Dallas with-
in three with just under 10
minutes left in the game, but
it’s as close as the Dragons
would draw.
“I was disappointed in our
first-half production,” coach
Tracy Jackson said. “But win-
ners fix problems, and they
fixed theirs. We put our-
selves in a position to win.
Maybe it was crappy play
calling by me, I’m not sure,
but we just couldn’t get the
job finished. It wasn’t be-
cause they weren’t capable.
They showed they are capa-
ble in the second half. It
wasn’t our destiny to make it
to the finals, but we have a
lot to be proud of. They bat-
tled like champs.”
Earhart finished the game
with 108 yards and a touch-
down, but Lebanon held
Earhart in check for much of
the game, with nearly half of
that total (42) coming on
one play.
“They handled us up front
really well,” senior Aaron
White said. “We’re a run-
heavy offense, and it’s hard
to run against that.”
Despite the loss, the 2016
season was a success by any
measure.
Jackson said he got a hint
of what was to come during
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dallas senior running back Tanner Earhart rushed for 108
yards and a touchdown against Wilsonville on Saturday.
the team’s summer camp.
Few expected a run quite
like this.
Dallas finished 7-2 in the
regular season and defeated
No. 9 Eagle Point and No. 1
Summit in the first two
rounds of the state playoffs
to advance to the semifinals
for the first time since 1998.
Earhart also rushed for
more than 2,000 yards and
was named the Mid-
Willamette Conference’s Of-
fensive Player of the Year.
“I think one thing with
Tanner is he will get to a hole
and keep his feet moving,”
Jackson said. “That’s some-
thing the great backs do.
They keep moving forward,
and if a tackler falters a little
bit, he’s going to break
through.”
Throughout much of the
latter stages of the season,
Jackson talked with his play-
ers about defining their lega-
cy. In the end, players want-
ed that legacy to be about
more than just them.
“That we showed heart,”
Blair said. “That we really
believe in Dragon pride and
we believe in family and the
community.”
The Dragons lost a heart-
breaker to Lebanon on Sat-
urday but that won’t take
away from what the team
accomplished, Blair said.
“It was amazing,” he said.
“The whole season we were
thought of as underdogs. We
were ranked like 26th before
the season. Who thinks a
team ranked 26th would
reach the semifinals? No-
body thought that. It was a
great ride.”
Continued from Page 10A
Wilsonville extended its
lead to as many as 21 in the
second half. Neville — a
Washington State com-
mit — finished the game
with 392 yards and six total
touchdowns.
“We tried hard to get
pressure on him,” Hedrick
said. “They’re dialed in;
they know what they want
to do; and they do a nice
job protecting him. I think
our game plan was to get
more pressure on him than
we were able to.”
The Panthers used a vari-
ety of trick plays — with
varying degrees of suc-
cess — from completing a
pass to Tuipulotu for a 6-
yard gain to an attempted
fake punt that ended in a
pick six for Wilsonville.
Mendazona threw for 280
yards and five touchdowns.
Senior Peter Mason had six
catches for 138 yards and
two touchdowns, but the
Wildcats’ offense proved
too much for the Panthers.
“Those 50/50 plays were
just going their way,”
Mason said. “The defense
fought hard, but when
those 50/50 balls came, it
wasn’t our turn. They made
some great catches and
some great plays.”
Central’s 2016 season was
one filled with ups and
downs — but was a suc-
cessful one.
“We had a really good
season with a really good
group of guys,” Mason said.
The Panthers advanced
to the state playoffs despite
dealing with a rash of in-
juries throughout the regu-
lar season. Central defeated
No. 6 Sandy and No. 14
Redmond in the first two
rounds of the state playoffs.
The team’s semifinals ap-
pearance was the team’s
fifth since 2004 — but the
Panthers’ first since moving
to Class 5A.
Tuipulotu, who will play
college football at Washing-
ton, was named the Mid-
Willamette Conference’s
Defensive Player of the Year.
It wasn’t the finish they
envisioned, but Hedrick’s
message to his players after
the game was clear: This
team has nothing to be
ashamed of.
“ I ’m p r o u d o f h o w
they’ve grown and matured
and come together as a
team,” Hedrick said. “I
talked to the guys in the
locker room and words
were not hard to find. They
were easy. I’m very proud of
these kids, so incredibly
proud.”
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Central prepares for a kick off against Wilsonville on Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium.