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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2020)
6A — BAKER CITY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020 BAKER BOYS BASKETBALL Seniors lead Bulldogs past Ontario, 80-19 By Jayson Jacoby jjacoby@bakercityherald.com The goal, Caden Long said, was to give the Baker crowd a show to remember on the night when he and the fi ve other Bulldog seniors were honored. They succeeded. Led by those seniors, play- ing in their fi nal regular sea- son game on Peacock Court, Baker rolled to its biggest victory margin of the season in steamrolling Ontario 80-19 Friday night and clinching a tie with La Grande atop the Greater Oregon League standings at 5-1. The Bulldog seniors scored 58 of those 80 points — Bak- er’s biggest offensive on- slaught since routing Samuel Roberts of British Columbia 87-28 during the Junction City tournament on Dec. 12. “I think the difference tonight was our energy,” said Long, who scored 10 points including a pair of slam dunks that invigorated the Baker crowd. “That’s always exhilarat- ing,” he said of his two dunks. Long’s fi rst slam started when he stepped in front of an Ontario pass in the fi rst quarter and sprinted to the basket. It was one of Baker’s season-high 23 thefts, which led to more than a dozen breakaway layins. Baker scored the fi rst 14 points Friday, and fi ve of the seniors accounted for all the points. Jamisun Rigueiro started the spree with a 15-foot jumper, the fi rst of his season- high 16 points. Spencer Smith then grabbed Baker’s fi rst steal and turned it into a layin. Long followed with two straight baskets, the second on his fi rst dunk, and Baker led 8-0 just three minutes into the game. Smith scored again, also off a steal, and Brylan Robb swished two free throws to boost the lead to 12-0. Spencer Shirtcliff complet- ed the 14-0 run with a layin. Baker led 18-4 after the fi rst quarter, and the lead only infl ated from there. “The kids did a great job,” Baker coach Jebron Jones said. “We hit (Ontario) in the mouth early and set the tone from the beginning.” Jones said the half-court zone trap that led to many of Baker’s steals is a defense he’s employed occasionally this season, but never to bet- ter effect than Friday against the outmatched Tigers, who are 2-22 this season and win- less in GOL play. “That’s something we’ve been practicing, and I just felt we would be in a very good position to play that little half-court zone tonight,” Jones said. “Our intensity was high and kids were get- ting in the passing lanes and that led to a lot of layups.” Baker had at least 15 such baskets. What the Bulldogs didn’t have a lot of was turnovers — they committed just eight. Rigueiro said the emotion of Senior Night contributed to Baker’s early momentum — and to his strong perfor- mance, as he tallied 10 of his 16 points in the fi rst half. “There was a lot of intensi- Kathy Orr / Baker City Herald Baker senior Jamisun Rigueiro scores one of his eight baskets Friday against the defense of Ontario’s Abe Ulloa, No. 22, and Bradley Nielson. ty with it being our last game, said. “It was great.” and I just wanted to make the Baker’s oppressive defense most of this opportunity with never allowed Ontario to gain my teammates,” Rigueiro anything resembling momen- tum. The Tigers scored con- secutive baskets only once — in the fourth quarter after Baker had taken a 70-12 lead. The Bulldogs led 43-10 at halftime. Ontario’s Abe Ulloa scored the fi rst basket of the second half — but it was the Tigers’ only points of the quarter. Baker then ran off 27 straight points, a span that stretched into the fourth quarter. All 10 Bulldogs scored at least 2 points dur- ing the streak, which ended with senior Riley Flanagan’s 16-foot jumper. A variety of statistics il- lustrate the stifl ing nature of Baker’s defense. Ontario had just eight fi eld goals, and the Tigers didn’t attempt a free throw. They didn’t score more than 7 points in any quarter. No opponent has scored fewer points against the Bulldogs this season. The previous low was 23, in Baker’s 46-23 win over Valley Catholic on Dec. 21. Ontario, curiously, did top Baker in one category — the Tigers had three 3-pointers, while Baker only had one, by Gambleton early in the second quarter. But then Baker had little incentive to shoot 3-point- ers since the Bulldogs were scoring almost at will within 5 feet of the basket. Jones said he was pleased that Baker had 17 assists on its 37 fi eld goals. But he conceded that the assist total was lower than it might have been simply because the Bull- dogs had so many breakaway layins where there was no need, or even opportunity, to make a pass. Ontario committed only one foul in the second half, during which Baker had 18 fi eld goals. Baker shot just 10 free throws — and two of those were before the game of- fi cially started. The referees assessed a technical foul to Ontario after Bradley Nielson dunked dur- ing pregame warmups. Long missed both of the technical foul free throws, and Baker started the game with possession rather than hav- ing the usual jump ball. Baker, 15-9 overall, has clinched a playoff berth and will play host to a GOL play- off seeding game Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at BHS. Baker’s opponent will be determined this week. Mac-Hi and Ontario play today, with the winner playing Thursday at La Grande. The winner of Thursday’s game will travel to Baker Saturday. Jones said the eight-day break between games isn’t ideal. “We’ll have to balance be- tween work and rest,” he said. ONTARIO (19) Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Hartley 1 0-0 3, Teramura 1 0-0 2, Reyna 0 0-0 0, Ramirez 0 0-0 0, Cacho 1 0-0 3, Neilson 2 0-0 4, Ulloa 2 0-0 4, Helmick 1 0-0 3, Menges 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 0-0 19. BAKER (80) Younger 2 0-0 4, Gambleton 3 0-0 7, Flanagan 3 0-0 6, Robb 5 2-2 12, Rigueiro 8 0-0 16, Wright 2 1-4 5, Shirtcliff 3 0-0 6, Long 5 -2 10, Van Arsdall 3 0-0 6, Smith 3 2-2 8. Totals 37 5-10 80. Ontario 4 6 2 7 — 19 Baker 18 25 20 17 — 80 Three-point baskets — Hartley, Cacho, Helmick, Gambleton. Total fouls — Ontario 6, Baker 5. Technical foul — Ontario bench (pre- game dunk). Save the Date Feb. 28th and 29th OPEN HOUSE FACTORY REPS ON SITE LOCALLY BUILT • NO SHIPPING COSTS 1201 Southgate, Pendleton Or 97801 Call 1-800-459-4836 • www.thompsonrvinc.com Hours: Friday the 28th 8:00am to 8:00 pm Saturday 9:00 am - 4:00 pm Sa
