TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A5
SPORTS
Nuggets
rout Trail
Blazers,
124-95
By MICHAEL KELLY
Associated Press
DENVER — Nikola Jokic
just missed out on his third
straight triple-double, fi nish-
ing with 28 points, nine re-
bounds and nine assists, and
the Denver Nuggets spoiled
Chauncey Billups’ return
with a 124-95 victory over
the Portland Trail Blazers on
Sunday night, Nov. 14.
Billups, a Denver native
who had two playing stints
with the Nuggets, lost his
head coaching debut in his
hometown without star
Damian Lillard.
Lillard was out with
what the team called a lower
abdominal tendinopathy. It is
an injury the guard has dealt
with before and aggravated
at the Los Angeles Clippers
on Tuesday night. Lillard
played Wednesday and Fri-
day night before Billups kept
him out of Sunday night’s
game.
“You know Dame doesn’t
like to sit any game, any
practice, anything, so I kind
of had to force him to do
this,” Billups said before the
game. “It’s too early in the
season to be playing hurt
every single night. You need
a break, take a break. If you
don’t think you need one I
might have to give you one.”
CJ McCollum led Port-
land with 21 points, and
Anfernee Simons had 16
starting in place of Lillard.
Portland fell to 1-7 on the
road.
Six Nuggets players
scored in double fi gures.
Rookie Bones Hyland scored
18 points to establish a
career high for the fourth
straight game.
Jokic came out with 1:24
left in the third quarter and
Denver leading 88-77 and sat
out the fourth. The Blazers
got within nine but Denver
went on a 21-4 run at the
end of the third and start of
the fourth.
Jokic assisted on seven of
the team’s fi rst eight baskets
and didn’t look for his own
shot until the second quarter.
“Nikola knows the deeper
we get into games the more
he’s going to have to take
over with his scoring and
be that go-to player for us,”
coach Michael Malone said.
“He’s going to read the game
and whatever’s given to him
he’s going to take and he’s
going to try to make him
pay for whatever game plan
you’ve come up with.”
The Nuggets led by 15
early and never trailed in
winning their fi fth straight,
all at home. They were up
67-53 at halftime and went
up by 18 early in the third.
Denver held all fi ve op-
ponents below 100 points on
the homestand despite miss-
ing key players each night.
“We have a long bench,
we have a long roster and ev-
eryone can play,” Jokic said.
“They showed that. Whoever
goes out other guys step and
play really good.”
Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard-TNS
Oregon quarterback Anthony Brown dives into the end zone for a touchdown on the Ducks’ opening drive of the third quarter in a 38-24
win over Washington State on Saturday, Nov. 13.
Oregon downs Cougars
with big second half
Oregon had more than 300
yards on the ground for the
second straight game.
De Laura threw for 280
yards and two touchdowns
for the Cougars. He was
intercepted twice.
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
EUGENE — Or-
egon defensive end Kayvon
Thibodeaux says it’s at that
point of the season where
every team wants to knock
off the Ducks.
Anthony Brown Jr. threw
for 135 yards and a touch-
down while rushing for 123
yards and another score as
No. 5 Oregon beat Washing-
ton State 38-24 on Saturday
night, Nov. 13.
Oregon, ranked No. 3 in
the College Football Play-
off rankings, has won fi ve
straight and extended its
winning streak at Autzen
Stadium to 18 straight
games, including 14 straight
victories at home over Pac-12
opponents.
“Every game is a playoff
game,” Thibodeaux said. “Us
having this target on our
backs, it makes every team
want to play their best. You
know, one thing that we had
a problem with was playing
down to teams. And now I
feel like we’re in that mode
where teams have to play up
to us.”
Oregon (9-1, 6-1 Pac-12)
needed to win and for Stan-
ford to beat Oregon State up
the road in Corvallis earlier
on Saturday to clinch the
Pac-12 North. The Beavers
didn’t hold up their end, win-
ning 35-14 over Stanford.
Washington State (5-5,
4-3) tied the game at 14
before halftime but Oregon
pulled away in the third
quarter. The loss snapped a
four-game winning streak
over Pac-12 opponents for
the Cougars, who fell to BYU
on Oct. 23 in a midseason
nonconference game.
The Cougars still need
one more win to become bowl
eligible and perhaps redeem
a season that has been
marked by turbulence. Wash-
Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian-TNS
Oregon running back Byron Cardwell (No. 21) runs against the Washington State
Cougars in a Pac-12 football game on Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, at Autzen Stadium
in Eugene.
ington State dismissed head
coach Nick Rolovich on Oct.
18 after his refusal to get vac-
cinated against COVID-19.
“Our guys aren’t going
to quit. They’re gonna keep
fi ghting,” WSU interim coach
Jake Dickert said. “They’re
gonna keep battling. I think
the biggest thing we were
looking for in this game is
just improvement and keep
progressing in our program,
keep moving forward.”
Saturday’s game got off
to a strange start. Wash-
ington State’s second play
from scrimmage appeared
to be a 77-yard touchdown
pass from Jayden de Laura
to Calvin Jackson Jr. But
on review, Jackson stepped
out of bounds at the Oregon
7-yard line. On the next play,
de Laura fumbled out of
the end zone for an Oregon
touchback.
Travis Dye plowed his
way into the end zone from
a yard out to give the Ducks
a 7-0 lead. Verone McKinley
III got his fi fth interception
of the season and three plays
later Dye scored on an 11-
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yard pass from Brown.
The Cougars closed the
margin on de Laura’s 14-yard
pass to De’zhaun Stribling
midway through the second
quarter. De Laura’s 1-yard
keeper with 11 seconds left in
the half tied it at 14.
Oregon scored on Brown’s
17-yard scramble on their
fi rst series of the second half
to pull back in front. The
Ducks extended the lead on
Camden Lewis’ 22-yard fi eld
goal.
It appeared that Washing-
ton State’s George Hicks III
recovered a fumble by Brown
in the end zone early in the
fourth quarter and ran it
back 50 yards. After review,
the play stood.
De Laura hit Travell
Harris with a 38-yard pass
to get to the Oregon 11, but
the Ducks’ defense held and
the Cougars settled for Dean
Janikowski’s 34-yard fi eld
goal to make it 24-17.
“I think it was another
chance for us to kind of show
our resilience and show that
we’re gonna keep coming,”
Thibodeaux said. “I feel like
we’ve trained for sudden
changes. Things happen in
football so just being able to
come back and play the next
play, that’s all you have to
do.”
Thibodeaux, considered
a top pick in the 2022 NFL
draft if he chooses to go pro,
had a pair of sacks and six
tackles, including two tackles
for loss.
Byron Caldwell ran for a
27-yard touchdown with 5:52
left before a 22-yard scoring
run with 2:07 to go for the
Ducks. De Laura’s 2-yard TD
pass to Harris ended it.
“I think this team’s get-
ting better and better every
single week, in a lot of differ-
ent areas, a lot of different
phases,” Oregon coach Mario
Cristobal said. “So the sky’s
the limit.”
Dye ran for 88 yards and
a score, and had 25 yards
receiving and another TD.
The takeaway
Washington State: Wash-
ington State hasn’t defeated
a team ranked in the AP Top
25 since No. 25 Iowa State
in the 2018 Alamo Bowl. The
Cougars last defeated a team
in the top 10 in 2017, when
they upset No. 5 Southern
California in Pullman, Wash-
ington. ... Washington State
was coming off a bye.
Oregon: Last year in Pull-
man, the Cougars led 19-14
at halftime but the then-No.
11 Ducks pulled away in the
second half, with Dye catch-
ing two second-half touch-
down passes, to win 43-29.
And takeaways
The Ducks have 15 take-
aways at home this season.
It was the fi fth game of the
season with at least three
takeaways.
“Being in the secondary
against Washington State,
you know they’re going to
pass the ball,” McKinley said.
”We were prepared.”
Cristobal said: “I’ll tell you
what, it was seven nothing
and Verone gets up pick.
That was another huge bolt
of energy to our sideline our
offensive guys fed off of that
big time. And that’s what
Verone does. Verone’s a game
changer.”
Up next
Washington State: Hosts
Arizona on Friday night,
Nov. 19.
Oregon: Visits Utah next
Saturday, Nov. 20.
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