SPORTS
6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2021
BAKER FOOTBALL VERSUS NORTH BEND AT PRINEVILLE
PAC-12 MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Bulldogs score first but lose, 32-14
By Corey Kirk
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
Baker scored fi rst, but the
Bulldogs couldn’t maintain
their momentum in a 32-14
loss in a nonleague football
game against North Bend on
Saturday, March 13.
The game, in deference
to the distance between the
two schools — more than
500 miles — was played at
Crook County High School in
Prineville.
Baker coach Jason Ramos
said the Bulldogs focused
in practice on fi xing the
problems they identifi ed from
watching video of the 21-12
loss at Vale in the season-
opening game March 5.
“We were working on our-
selves, and the mistakes that
we saw after watching the
Vale game, and we were just
really focusing on the kids
getting better at their jobs,”
Ramos said.
With senior quarterback
Kaden Myer suffering a
shoulder injury against
Vale, Ramos decided to give
freshman Paul Hobson the
start behind center, allowing
senior Gabe Gambleton to
line up in the slot.
Hobson and Gambleton
shared quarterback duties
after Myer’s injury against
Vale.
“We really needed to uti-
lize Gabe in his slot position,
which allows him to utilize
his skills as a receiver and
a runner,” Ramos said. “Get-
ting some varsity experience
for Paul moving forward
into this short season, both
of those things factored into
our decision to go that direc-
tion.”
Ramos’ decision yielded
results early on against
Class 5A North Bend.
Gambleton broke loose for
a 20-yard touchdown run
that gave Baker a 7-0 lead
early in the fi rst quarter.
“It was a great run,” Ra-
mos said. “We tried to utilize
him (Gambleton) in different
ways in the backfi eld and
■ Oregon State earns berth for just
second time in the past 31 years
By John Marshall
AP Basketball Writer
Beth Shirtcliff/Contributed Photo
Baker’s football team traveled to Prineville to play North Bend on Saturday, March 13.
let him impact the football,
he made a great play and it
was nice to get on the board
fi rst.”
North Bend responded
later on in the fi rst quarter
with a 47-yard touchdown
run from senior Jake Posey.
A two-point conversion
(North Bend’s kicker wasn’t
available) gave the (other)
Bulldogs the lead at 8-7.
Baker regained the lead
midway through the second
quarter on an outstanding
individual defensive play by
senior lineman Zander Ar-
riaga. On an option play by
North Bend, Arriaga swatted
the ball into the end zone,
where he jumped on the
loose ball for the touchdown.
Baker led 14-8.
“That was just a great play
by Zander, he played the op-
tion well, swatting down that
ball and went and got it,”
Ramos said.
North Bend responded
again, though, scoring late in
the quarter on senior Liam
Bukarud’s 4-yard touchdown
catch. The two-point try
failed, and the score was tied
at 14 at halftime.
Ramos said one goal in the
second half was to cut down
on penalties. There were 18
fl ags in the fi rst half between
the two teams.
“We talked about how
we needed to clean things
up and execute, and not be
sloppy because everyone
knew that those were caus-
ing us to struggle offensively,”
Ramos said.
North Bend’s ground game
began to shine in the second
half, yielding three touch-
downs, starting with Craig
Edera’s scamper to give North
Bend the lead for good.
Senior Coleman Compton
added a 1-yard touchdown
run later in the third quarter,
and Posey had a second score
in the fourth quarter.
Baker struggled offensively
in the second half.
Ramos said that although
Hobson was frustrated by fi ve
interceptions, he continues
to encourage the freshman
signal caller, who Ramos said
has great potential.
“We knew it was going to be
a process for him, and we are
going to have to kind of ride
out some mistakes on some
of those things,” Ramos said.
“So yeah, we are encourag-
ing him, he made some good
throws, made some good
decisions, and had some that
weren’t so good, but that’s
part of his journey through
this shortened season, that
learning process.”
Baker, which dropped to 0-2
in this shortened season, now
prepares for its fi rst game
Timberwolves nip Blazers
By Brian Hall
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — An-
thony Edwards scored a
career-high 34 points and
the short-handed Minnesota
Timberwolves held on to beat
the Portland Trail Blazers
114-112 on Sunday, March 14.
Ricky Rubio added 15
points, including eight free
throws in the fi nal seconds.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 13
points as Minnesota started
with just 10 players after
rookie Jaden McDaniels
was added to the health and
safety protocols before the
game.
The Timberwolves have
won two of their past three
games and are 2-6 under new
coach Chris Finch.
“No matter if I’m playing
good or bad, if it’s time for a
big-time shot, I always want
the ball no matter what,”
Edwards said of his fourth
quarter. “That’s just who I
am, but it just happened to be
a good game. I was just telling
them to give me the ball and
get out of the way.”
Damian Lillard scored 38
for Portland, which had won
Beavers upset
Colorado, on to
NCAA tourney
four of fi ve and beat Minneso-
ta 125-121 on Saturday. Gary
Trent Jr. added 21 points for
the Blazers, and Carmelo
Anthony had 16 off the bench.
Neither team could pull
away for three quarters, with
the largest lead being just six
points for the squads playing
without several key players
and on the second game of a
back-to-back.
Portland was playing its
25th straight game without
starters Jusuf Nurkic and
C.J. McCollum. The Wolves
still have second-leading
scorer Malik Beasley on a
suspension, D’Angelo Russell
recovering from left knee sur-
gery and two players in the
health and safety protocols.
“From an offensive
standpoint, it was a struggle
for a lot of the night and
particularly the fi rst quarter,”
Portland coach Terry Stotts
said. “I thought we did a good
job trying to fi ght through
some shooting struggles
throughout the game. … I
thought we gave a good effort
in the fourth quarter to get
back into it, but the hole was
too deep.”
BULLDOGS
Minnesota started to pull
away early in the fourth and
it wasn’t surprising to see
Edwards, the No. 1 overall
draft pick, in the middle of
the action.
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Continued from Page 5A
The match remained close in the fi nal set, with the Vikings
fi nally securing the win, 15-13.
Looking ahead, with seven matches remaining on the
pandemic-abbreviated schedule, Abrego said she’s excited to
see her team continue to improve as it competes against more
experienced teams. Vale, for instance, has fi ve seniors and four
juniors on its roster.
“I think we are fi nally fi nding a rhythm as a team, we got
the fi rst couple of games out of the way, but the more we play
mature teams like Vale, the more we are being asked to rise to
the occasion and I only think that is going to benefi t us further
down the road,” Abrego said.
Baker played host to Nyssa Monday night, and the Bulldogs
will play Powder Valley on Wednesday, March 17. The time had
not been announced as of press time.
at Baker Bulldog Memorial
Stadium since Oct. 18, 2019.
The Bulldogs will play host to
Nyssa this Friday, March 19,
at 7 p.m.
“We are still working
through getting better, and
just doing our jobs better
within our schemes, we are
going to have a good week of
practice, we are going to con-
tinue to work on things, we
are going to learn from fi lm,
we are going to try and correct
those mistakes we are still
seeing, and that’s all we can
do right now is just work on
ourselves and get ourselves
better,” Ramos said. “We kind
of know what Nyssa is going
to be doing, we will have fi lm
on them and we will have a
good week of preparation.”
Baker’s only other home
game is scheduled for Friday,
March 26 against Ontario,
also at 7 p.m.
Buell Gonzales Jr., the Bak-
er School District’s athletic
director, said there will be
three to four groups of specta-
tors allowed, 150 people per
group, one for the visiting
team and two or three for
Baker. Each player will have
an allotment of tickets, and
additional fans likely will be
allowed.
LAS VEGAS — Wayne Tinkle shuffl ed across toward
the sideline, the streamers wrapped around his ankles
creating a confetti wake. Remnants from a cut-down
net dangled around his neck as the Oregon State coach
heaved the game ball into the stands.
On the receiving end was his son and former player,
Tres, sitting among other family members.
All those years of building, the ups and downs of a
pandemic-altered season, and the Beavers were fi nally
champions.
Picked to fi nish last,
Oregon State is a con-
Beavers play
ference champion for
the fi rst time, winning
Friday, Ducks
the Pac-12 Tourna-
Saturday
ment title by holding
Oregon and Oregon
off No. 23 Colorado
State’s men’s basketball
70-68 Saturday night.
teams both earned bids
“This has been
in the NCAA tourna-
the most emotional
ment.
year in my life and
Oregon State, a 12th
probably for all of us,”
seed in the Midwest
Tinkle said. “It’s just
Region, will play 5th-
incredible that we
seeded Tennessee on
have gotten to this
Friday, March 19 at 1:30
level and we know
p.m.
why we have. It’s a
Oregon, a 7th seed
pretty neat deal.”
in the West Region,
Needing three wins
will play 10th-seeded
in three days to end a
Virginia Commonwealth
four-year NCAA Tour-
on Saturday, March 20
nament drought, the
at 6:57 p.m.
Beavers (17-12) built
confi dence with each
step along The Strip.
Oregon State opened its fi rst conference title game in
33 years with a fl urry of 3-pointers and withstood a late
push by Colorado (22-8) to become the fi rst Pac-10/12
team to win the conference title after being picked to
fi nish last.
Maurice Calloo gave the Beavers a huge boost with
leading scorer Ethan Thompson in foul trouble, scoring
15 points after managing 10 the eight previous games
combined.
“We have been through a lot of ups and downs as
a team and we were able to overcome it,” Calloo said.
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