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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2020)
6A — BAKER CITY HERALD WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020 Blazers top Hornets, snap home Bulldogs burn up I-84 while losing streak splitting games with Vale, Nyssa BAKER BOYS BASKETBALL By Anne M. Peterson coincidence. When a team plays unself- ishly, multiple players tend to get good shots, Jones said. He was also pleased with Baker’s consistent scoring throughout the game. The Bulldogs scored between 14 and 20 points in each quarter. “We’re not a good enough team to have low point totals in any quarter,” Jones said. Baker trailed 17-14 after the fi rst quarter. Jones said he told the team between the fi rst and second quarters that they couldn’t continue to yield that many points to Vale. The Bulldogs didn’t. They clamped down in the second quarter, holding Vale to just 6 points while scoring 19 points to take a 33-23 lead at halftime. Baker won the JV game 42- 24 and the JV2 game 47-17. By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com The Baker boys basketball team’s winter tour of Malheur County ended up agonizingly short of perfection. After traveling to Vale Monday night and soundly beating the Vikings 69-52, Baker retraced much of its route Tuesday but couldn’t overcome Nyssa in a 57-55 loss. Gabe Gambleton’s 18-footer cut the lead to 2, but with just one-tenth of a second left the Bulldogs had no chance to get off a potential game-winning shot. “They played harder than we did,” Baker coach Jebron Jones said of Nyssa, which avenged its 39-30 loss at Baker on Dec. 10. “They outhustled us, and that’s why they won.” The game was close most of the way, with Baker leading 29-28 at halftime. Nyssa led by as many as 8 points in the fourth quarter before Baker rallied. Jones said the Bulldogs allowed Nyssa to dictate the tempo, playing at a faster pace than is ideal for Baker. Caden Long led Baker with 20 points. Gambleton added 12 and Riley Flanagan 12. Baker swept the other games, the JV winning 50-27 and the JV2 55-50. On Monday night at Vale, Jones said the Bulldogs clearly heeded his pre-game message about the impor- tance of passing to an open teammate rather than taking Kathy Orr / Baker City Herald fi le photo Jake Wright, here against Nyssa earlier in the season, scored a team-high 16 points Monday at Vale. a lower-percentage shot. His players responded by racking up a season-best 19 assists on 26 made fi eld goals. “If we can get to about that percentage against any team I think we’ll have a good chance to be successful,” Jones said. “It was a great team effort. The sole focus of the game was on taking more quality shots, and it showed. I hope it continues the rest of the season.” Several of those assists were on passes to 6-foot-5 post Jake Wright, who scored a season-high 16 points to lead Baker. “Our focus was on getting the open man the ball, and often times he was that guy,” Jones said of Wright. “He did a great job of fi nishing, which was nice to see.” Jones said Baker’s bal- anced scoring — Long had 15 points, Gambleton and Flanagan 12 each, and Spen- cer Smith added 9 — wasn’t a IT’S TIME FOR A DRAMATIC NEW LOOK Wheel Products & Services FREE WHEEL & TIRE CONSULTS FREE QUOTES FOR LIFT KITS & SUSPENSION TRAINED TECHS UP TO DATE TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT YOUR HOMETOWN TIRE DEALER TUESDAY BAKER (55) Younger 0 0-0 0, Gambleton 7 0-0 16, Flanagan 6 0-0 12, Robb 0 0-0 0, Rigueiro 0 0-0 0, Wright 1 1-2 3, Shirtcliff 0 0-0 0, Long 9 1-2 20, Van Arsdall 1 0-0 2, Smith 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 2-4 55. NYSSA (57) Pascacio 1 1-1 3, Pedraza 4 0-0 12, Chavez 6 2-3 16, Barba 6 1-3 15, Vela 1 0-0 2, Gomeza 4 1-2 9. Totals 22 5-9 57. Baker 15 14 9 17 — 55 Nyssa 15 13 13 16 — 57 Three-point baskets — Gambleton 2, Long, Chavez 2, Barba 2, Pascacio, Pedraza 4. Total fouls — Baker 3, Nyssa 9. MONDAY BAKER (69) Younger 0 0-0 0, Gambleton 4 2-2 12, Flanagan 5 2-2 12, Robb 0 0-0 0, Rigueiro 1 0-0 2, Wright 6 4-4 16, Shirtcliff 0 0-0 0, Long 7 1-2 15, Van Arsdall 1 1-2 3, Smith 4 1-2 9. Totals 28 11-14 69. VALE (52) Diaz 4 5-6 15, Kelso 2 0-0 6, Kesey 3 0-0 6, Wolfe 2 4-4 8, Aldred 0 2-2 2, Gregory 3 4-5 12, Kade Kurata 0 3-4 3. Totals 14 16-21 52. Baker 14 19 20 16 — 69 Vale 17 6 16 13 — 52 Three-point baskets — Gambleton 2, Diaz 2, Kelso 2, Gregory 2. Total fouls — Baker 15, Vale 15. AP Sports Writer PORTLAND — Damian Lillard just knew. His shot to end the third quarter against Charlotte was listed at 47 feet in the offi cial statistics. “I was like, man, that’s going to have a chance,” Lillard said. “It was a good shot.” The rest of the game wasn’t nearly as certain for the Portland Trail Blazers, who escaped with a 115-112 vic- tory on Monday night. Lillard fi nished with 30 points while Anthony Tolliver had a season-high 16, all in the fourth quarter. CJ Mc- Collum added 27 as the Blazers snapped a two-game overall losing streak and a four-game skid at the Moda Center. The Blazers, who led by as many as 17 points in the fi rst half before Charlotte closed the gap and took a third-quarter lead, have won their last six games against the Hornets. Cody Zeller’s layup pulled Charlotte within 109-107 with just over 3 minutes to go and P.J. Washington made a pair of free throws to tie it. Tolliver’s 3-pointer gave the Blazers a 112-109 with 2:11 left before Carmelo Anthony had a key steal and Lillard made a layup. MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL Clemson upsets Duke CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson gave its weary fans something to celebrate a night after losing the national championship game in football, getting a career-high 25 points from Aamir Simms in a 79-72 upset of No. 3 Duke on Tuesday night. It was the highest-profi le upset for the Tigers since beating No. 1 North Carolina on their home court in February 2001. The Blue Devils (15-2, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Confer- ence) came into the game a 10fi-point favorite and leading the nation with an average margin of victory of 21.5 points. The Tigers (9-7, 3-3) completed one of the rarest ACC doubles. They beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill for the fi rst time in program history Saturday, ending a 59-game losing streak on the Tar Heels’ home court. Tevin Mack scored 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting for Clemson. Simms was 10 of 15 from the fi eld and had nine rebounds and fi ve assists.
