Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2019)
BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2019 Whiteside leads Blazers to No. 8 Ducks season-best 4th straight win survive upset OREGON MEN’S BASKETBALL ■ 7-foot center scores 16 points and has 7 blocks to add to his NBA-leading total By Eric García Gundersen Associated Press PORTLAND — Hassan Whiteside’s play, good or bad, is critical to the Portland Trail Blazers. The 7-foot center was at his best Saturday night, fi nishing with 16 points, 22 rebounds and seven blocks as the Trail Blazers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 113-106 for their season- high fourth straight victory. Even while he was strug- gling with injuries earlier this season and became the subject of trade specula- tion, Whiteside’s teammates never stopped motivating him to dominate. “When you see games like this game, the Golden State game, stuff like that, it’s almost like it’s obvious when he’s not doing it,” said Damian Lillard, who scored 29 points for Portland. “It’s obvious when he’s not bring- ing it because when he does, it’s so obvious and it’s such a big deal for our team. It was a great game. Great game.” Whiteside leads the NBA with 73 blocked shots. “That was a challenge from my coach — lead the league in blocks,” Whiteside said. “I feel like I’m the best rim protector in the league,” he added. “Even last year, through all the naysayers or whatever, you look who pro- tected the rim in fi eld goal “I feel like I’m the best rim protector in the league. Even last year, through all the naysayers or whatever, you look who protected the rim in fi eld goal percentage, it was still me at the end of the day.” — Trail Blazers center Hassan Whiteside percentage, it was still me at the end of the day. So I feel like I’m the best rim protec- tor (and) it’s not even close.” Over the last four games, Whiteside has averaged 13 points, 19 rebounds and four blocks. “We really need him to rebound defensively or we’re not going to get the rebound, as we’ve shown,” Portland guard CJ McCollum said. McCollum had 26 points and swingman Kent Baze- more scored a season-high 19 for the Blazers, who played without a banged-up Carmelo Anthony. Andrew Wiggins scored 33 points for the Timberwolves, but Whiteside made things diffi cult for them inside all night. “It’s hard to fi nish over him,” Minnesota coach Ryan Saunders said. Minus injured All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns, the Minnesota offense continued to struggle early, particularly from outside as the Wolves missed nine of their fi rst 10 3-point at- tempts. Gorgui Dieng helped by making three 3-point- ers and scoring 15 points. Shabazz Napier had 18 points and four assists, while Jeff Teague scored 18 off the bench. Lillard had 19 points in the fi rst half to push Portland to a 61-52 halftime lead. Minnesota went on a 7-0 run to start the second half, fueled by Portland turn- overs. After committing only fi ve turnovers in the fi rst half, the Blazers had fi ve to begin the third quar- ter. Teague’s running 3 cut the Blazers’ lead to 83-80 at the third-quarter buzzer. Another 3-pointer by Teague tied the game 83-all at the 11:02 mark of the fourth quarter. He scored 12 straight points for Minneso- ta before being subbed out. Minnesota tied it two more times in the fourth before Portland pulled away. A basket from Lillard and a 3-pointer from McCollum pushed Portland ahead 98- 93 with 5:24 left. The Blazers kept the Wolves at arm’s length for the rest of the game as Minnesota never again got closer than three. Whiteside’s putback gave Portland a 107-100 lead with 41 seconds left to put the game away. TIP-INS • Timberwolves: For the third straight game the Timberwolves were without Towns, their leading scorer. His injury has forced Saun- ders to tinker with his line- ups, such as moving Teague to a sixth-man role off the bench to help power the re- serves to 44 points on Friday. “It makes a big difference,” Saunders said. “Obviously, we’re missing a big piece in Karl and we just ask for daily growth. We just ask these guys to compete. We felt good coming out of the game last night.” Saunders said Towns was “progressing” but didn’t offer much more. • Trail Blazers: After bang- ing knees against Orlando on Friday, Anthony was ruled out for this one. He left Friday’s game in the second quarter and did not return. After working out a little bit Saturday morning, Anthony made the determination not to play. “He got treatment this morning just to see how things felt and it just wasn’t quite right,” coach Terry Stotts said. UP NEXT • Timberwolves: At the Golden State Warriors on Monday. • Trail Blazers: Host the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. OREGON STATE MEN’S BASKETBALL Texas A&M rallies in second half to end Beavers’ 7-game winning streak COLLEGE STATION, Tex- as (AP) — Prior to his team’s nonconference matchup with Oregon State on Saturday night, Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said it would take a miracle for the Aggies to pull off the upset. With a sigh of relief, after A&M’s 64-49 win over the Beavers at Reed Arena, Wil- liams said he still stands by the statement. “It was the best Christmas gift of 2019. So thankful,” Wil- liams said. Josh Nebo scored 15 points and Texas A&M used a big second half to rally from an 11-point defi cit and beat Or- egon State 64-49 on Saturday night. Tres Tinkle’s three-point play to open the second half gave Oregon State (9-2) an 11-point lead but Texas A&M scored the next seven points to make it 33-29 and used a 20-3 run to take a 51-41 lead with four minutes left. The Beavers trailed by at least eight the rest of the way. Quenton Jackson and Savion Flagg added 13 points apiece for Texas A&M. Tres Tinkle paced the Bea- arms of Texas A&M’s Jay The Beavers shot just Jay Chandler with three 33.3% from the fi eld. “Second half, they went on seconds on the shot clock. With one crossover, Chandler a run and we lost our com- drew a foul as he hoisted up posure,” Oregon State coach — OSU coach Wayne Tinkle a desperation shot at the Wayne Tinkle said. “It’s the buzzer that fell into the net. fi rst time we’ve been on the vers with 21 points. road this year when we were He completed the four-point play with a made free throw. In the weeks leading up to down, a true road game. So Saturday’s victory, Williams we faced some adversity and “It changed the game,” Nebo had harped on his team’s defi - I’m disappointed with how we said. ciency in offensive rebound- responded.” HE SAID IT ing. The Aggies (5-5) pulled BIG PICTURE Well before Flagg entered in 12 offensive rebounds and • Oregon State: The Bea- the press conference room scored nine second-chance vers win streak ends at seven for his offi cial availability, he points. The Aggies’ 12 of- burst through the door and fensive boards are the team’s games, falling three games short of the longest unbeaten shouted “Did y’all see that?” second most this season, stretch since Oregon State to the gathered media. “I”m behind its 13 in a 63-60 win won 10 in a row in the 1989- just excited for the break- over Texas A&M-Corpus 90 season. through,” he followed up Christi on Sunday. • Texas A&M: The Aggies’ later. “That area was defi nitely something we focused on, be- notch their biggest win in the UP NEXT cause lately we were missing Buzz Williams era and save • Oregon State hosts a lot of shots,” Nebo said. “So themselves from the worst 10-game start since 2000-01. North Dakota on Dec. 29. our focus was to just get the ball on the rim and see if all • Texas A&M hosts Texas our guys crashing can try and TURNING POINT An air-balled 3-point shot Southern on Dec. 30. get the rebound and give us another opportunity to shoot.” pinballed its way into the Freshman Emanuel Miller led A&M with 13 boards, four offensive. Nebo grabbed seven rebounds and had a career- PRES n EN d TS 2 high eight blocks - second Annual at the Eltrym Theater most in program history. “Second half, they went on a run and we lost our composure.” The Grove Team FREE Christmas Movies Weekly Specials December 23-29 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Meatloaf............................................................$8.95 Ham Steak.........................................................$8.95 Christmas Buffet.................................$11.95/11.50 sr Chicken Fried Steak............................................$9.95 All You Can Eat Mini Shrimp...............................$9.95 Steak & Shrimp................................................$10.95 Pan Fried Oysters ............................................$10.50 Prime Rib...............$14.95 / NY Steak.............$13.95 Baked Chicken......................................$9.50/8.95 sr Monday, d December b 23rd d • 1 pm Limited Seating • First Come First Serve! Movie Choices: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf or The Grinch We are thankful for our friends, family and clients and hope to see you there! Brought to you by BUFFETS Monday - Friday 11 AM - 2 PM Lunch includes Salad Bar, Entree, Grilled Bread, Baked Bean & Vegetable 221 Bridge Street • 541-523-5844 Open Daily 6 AM - 8 PM Sunday 8 AM - 11 AM Sunday Buffet includes Chocolate Fountain Kristen McAdams, Jaclyn Foss, Karla Smith, Jeff Anderson, Tamara Claflin, Shannon Downing, Mary Jo Grove, Mitch Grove bid by Texas Southern EUGENE (AP) — Payton Pritchard wouldn’t let Oregon fall to Texas Southern again. The senior guard led a late surge to help the eighth- ranked Ducks escape an upset scare against Texas Southern for an 84-78 victory Saturday night. Pritchard scored 29 points, 16 of them in the fi nal 4:44 as the Ducks (10-2) fi nally got the lead and held it. Will Richardson added 18 points. “Pritchard is outstanding,” TSU coach Johnny Jones said. “He’s an out- “We kind of let them do standing player and we knew that. For us what they wanted to.” to have a chance we’ve — Oregon coach Dana either got to keep him Altman, talking about under control or if he’s Texas Southern, which upset going off we have to the Ducks last season stop other guys, but he was creating some opportunities for others as well.” Chris Baldwin had 27 points for the Tigers (3-8), who last year beat the 13th-ranked Ducks 89-84. Tyrik Armstrong added 21 points for TSU this time. After trailing by three at halftime, the Tigers scored the fi rst fi ve points of the second half and upped the margin to 45-39 before the Ducks went on a 16-3 run to lead 55-48 with 11 minutes left. Baldwin scored the next seven points for the Tigers, and Justin Hopkins’ three-point play gave TSU a 58-56 lead with eight minutes remaining. The lead changed fi ve times over the ensuing four minutes, the last when Pritchard drove for a bas- ket and a 70-69 advantage. It was also part of eight consecutive Oregon points for Pritchard. He scored the Ducks’ fi nal eight points on fi ve free throws and a 3-pointer from nearly midcourt when the shot clock was running out for a 79-72 lead. “We were just trying to spread the fl oor and we wanted to drive because we thought they were being physical with our drivers and eventually we’d get some calls there,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said, adding that Pritchard “really did some good things late, get- ting to the basket, getting to the free-throw line.” Hot shooting spurred the Tigers to an early lead, and the margin reached 24-13 when Baldwin hit a 3-pointer that prompted a timeout by Oregon. “We kind of let them do what they wanted to,” Alt- man said. After TSU pushed the margin two points higher, a 3-pointer by Anthony Mathis sent Oregon on an 11-0 spurt, and the Ducks fi nally tied it at 28 on Chris Du- arte’s two free throws. Oregon’s run reached 20-2 on the fi rst of consecutive 3-pointers by Will Richardson, who led the Ducks with 11 points in the opening half. Oregon led 36-33 at halftime. BIG PICTURE • Texas Southern: The Tigers showed no fear play- ing Oregon for the third consecutive year. “We were fortunate enough last year, but we knew it would be a tough one for us,” Jones said. “I applaud our kids for being able to fi ght a seasoned and very good basket- ball team the way we did.” • Oregon: The Ducks could be due a rise in the polls with a least three teams above them losing this week. STILL ABSENT After starting the fi rst eight games of the season for the Ducks, graduate transfer Shakur Juiston missed his fourth consecutive game with a leg injury. He is Oregon’s second leading rebounder at 6.5 and is also averaging 8.8 points. UP NEXT • Texas Southern is back on the road for a game at Arizona State next Saturday. The Tigers play 11 of their 13 nonleague games away from home. • Oregon completes its nonconference schedule with a home game next Sunday against Alabama State. The Ducks then begin their Pac-12 schedule at Colorado on Jan. 2
