A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021
SPORTS
Trail Blazers snap 3-game skid
with 110-92 win over Detroit
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Serena Morones for The Oregonian-TNS
Oregon State’s revon Bradford (No. 8) gets wrapped up by Oregon’s Mykael Wright
(2) as the Beavers visited the No. 11 Ducks in their annual college football rivalry
game on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. Oregon won 38-29.
Championship Week
Primer: CFP spots,
bowl slots are at stake
 Oregon plays
Utah for Pac-
12 title Friday
By ERIC OLSON
AP College Football Writer
Conference champions
will be crowned, bowl selec-
tion pecking orders will be
locked in and more clarity
will emerge about which
teams will and won’t be
among the four picked for
the College Football Playoff.
It’s Championship Week,
and while the matchups for
the conference title games
Friday and Saturday include
many of the usual suspects,
there are some joining the
party for the fi rst time — or
the fi rst time in a while.
Start with Michigan,
which had zero appear-
ances in the previous 11 Big
Ten championship games.
The Wolverines are in after
knocking off Ohio State to
win the East Division. Their
opponent, Iowa, is in for the
second time and the fi rst
since 2015.
Oklahoma State clinched
its fi rst appearance in the
Big 12 championship game
a week before its break-
through win over six-time
defending league champion
Oklahoma.
Wake Forest is back in
the Atlantic Coast Confer-
ence game for the fi rst time
since 2006.
In the Group of Five,
UTSA will make its debut in
the Conference USA game,
Kent State is back in the
Mid-American Conference
game for the fi rst time since
2012 and Utah State is in
the Mountain West game for
the fi rst time since 2013.
A rundown of the games,
with AP ranking:
Last meeting: Oklahoma
State won 24-14 on Oct. 2.
Series: Oklahoma State
leads 22-18.
Stakes: Oklahoma State
to CFP or Sugar Bowl if it
wins; Baylor to Sugar Bowl if
it wins.
Notable: Cowboys held
Baylor to season lows of 107
rushing yards and 280 total
yards in their previous meet-
ing.
SEC
No. 4 Alabama (11-1, 7-1)
vs. No. 1 Georgia (12-0, 8-0),
Saturday, 4 p.m. EST (CBS)
Where: Mercedes-Benz
Stadium, Atlanta.
Last meeting: Alabama
won 41-24 on Oct. 17, 2020.
Series: Alabama leads
41-25-4.
Stakes: Winner to CFP,
and loser could be in line for
CFP spot depending on score
margin and results of other
conference championship
games.
ACC
No. 18 Wake Forest (10-2,
7-1) vs. No. 17 Pittsburgh
(10-2, 7-1), Saturday, 8 p.m.
EST (ABC)
Where: Bank of America
Stadium, Charlotte, North
Carolina.
Last meeting: Pittsburgh
won 34-13 on Nov. 17, 2018.
Series: Pittsburgh leads
1-0.
Stakes: Winner to Peach
Bowl or Fiesta Bowl.
Notable: In the team’s only
previous meeting, current
QB Kenny Pickett and the
Panthers beat the Demon
Deacons to clinch a spot in
the 2018 ACC title game,
where they lost to Clemson.
to a bowl.
Notable: Western Ken-
tucky has won seven straight
since losing to the Roadrun-
ners, all by at least 15 points.
MAC
Northern Illinois (8-4,
6-2) vs. Kent State (7-5, 6-2),
Saturday, noon EST (ESPN)
Where: Ford Field, Detroit.
Last meeting: Kent State
won 52-47 on Nov. 3.
Series: Northern Illinois
leads 21-8.
Stakes: Both teams will go
to a bowl.
Notable: Huskies have
won seven of the nation-
leading nine one-score games
they’ve played. The loss to
Kent State was one of the two
they didn’t.
MOUNTAIN WEST
Utah State (9-3, 6-2) vs.
No. 19 San Diego State (11-1,
7-1), Saturday, 3 p.m. EST
(Fox)
Where: Dignity Health
Sports Park, Carson, Califor-
nia.
Last meeting: San Diego
State won 38-7 on Oct. 31,
2020.
Series: San Diego State
leads 13-2.
Stakes: Winner goes to
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl.
Notable: Utah State,
picked fi fth in the Mountain
Division, won six games after
trailing by double digits and
went 6-0 on the road.
SUN BELT
Appalachian State (10-2,
7-1) vs. No. 20 Louisiana-La-
fayette (11-1, 8-0), Saturday,
3:30 p.m. EST (ESPN)
Where: Cajun Field, Lafay-
ette, Louisiana.
Last meeting: Louisiana-
Lafayette won 41-13 on Oct.
BIG TEN
No. 15 Iowa (10-2, 7-2) vs. 12.
Series: Appalachian State
No. 2 Michigan (11-1, 8-1),
leads 8-2.
Saturday, 8 p.m. EST (Fox)
Stakes: Both teams will go
Where: Lucas Oil Sta-
to bowls.
dium, Indianapolis.
PAC-12
Notable: This will be the
Last meeting: Michigan
No. 10 Oregon (10-2, 7-2)
third time these teams have
won 10-3 on Oct. 5, 2019.
vs. No. 14 Utah (9-3, 8-1),
met in the four-year history of
Series: Michigan leads
Friday, 8 p.m. EST (ABC)
the game. App State won the
42-15-4.
Where: Allegiant Sta-
Stakes: Michigan to CFP if previous two.
dium, Las Vegas.
it wins; Iowa in line for Rose
Last meeting: Utah won
Bowl bid if it wins.
38-7 on Nov. 20.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC
Notable: Michigan’s Aidan
Series: Oregon leads
No. 16 Houston (11-1, 8-0)
Hutchinson and David Ojabo vs. No. 3 Cincinnati (12-0,
23-11.
are 1-2 in the Big Ten in
8-0), Saturday, 4 p.m. EST
Stakes: Winner to Rose
sacks with a combined 24;
(ABC)
Bowl.
Iowa is 94th nationally in
Where: Nippert Stadium,
Notable: Oregon is fi rst
sacks allowed.
Cincinnati.
team to make title game
Last meeting: Cincinnati
three straight times and will
won 38-10 on Nov. 7, 2020.
be appearing for fi fth time.
GROUP OF FIVE GAMES
Series: Houston leads
Ducks are 4-0 in the game,
CONFERENCE USA
15-12.
including a 37-15 win over
Western Kentucky (8-4,
Stakes: Cincinnati is in
Utah in 2019.
7-1) vs. UTSA (11-1, 7-1), Fri-
day, 7 p.m. EST (CBS Sports line for CFP spot if it wins;
Houston will go to bowl win
Network)
BIG 12
or lose.
Where: Alamodome, San
No. 9 Baylor (10-2, 7-2) vs.
Notable: The defending
No. 5 Oklahoma State (11-1, Antonio.
Last meeting: UTSA won champion Bearcats have won
8-1), Saturday, noon EST
15 straight against confer-
52-46 on Oct. 9.
(ABC)
ence opponents and 19 of
Series: Tied 1-1.
Where: AT&T Stadium,
Stakes: Both teams will go their last 21.
Arlington, Texas.
PORTLAND — Ben McLemore found
out when he came to the Moda Center on
Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 30 that he’d likely
be seeing playing time for the Trail Blazers.
With Portland missing several players,
McLemore had 17 points off the bench and
the Blazers handed the Detroit Pistons
their seventh straight loss with a 110-92
victory.
McLemore, a veteran who joined the
Blazers in the offseason, had played in just
six previous games with the team.
“It’s something that I’ve built up over
the course of the years, of just having a
switch on when they tell me, ‘Hey, tonight’s
the night,’” McLemore said.
CJ McCollum led all scorers with 28
points for the Blazers, who snapped a
three-game losing streak. Portland has won
10 straight at home for the fi rst time since
2009.
Detroit rookie Cade Cunningham
fi nished with a season-high 26 points,
including fi ve 3-pointers. The Pistons have
won just four games this season.
Both teams were playing the second of
back-to-backs. The Blazers fell 129-107 at
Steph Chambers/Getty Images-TNS
The Portland Trail Blazers’ CJ
McCollum, left, drives against the
Detroit Pistons’ Jerami Grant during
the fi rst quarter at Moda Center on
Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Portland.
the Utah Jazz on Monday night, while the
Pistons were coming off a 110-106 loss at
the Los Angeles Lakers.
“When adversity hits with a young team
you either join the fi ght or you step back. I
thought tonight we stepped back, where in
Los Angeles we joined the fi ght and com-
peted even when things were going bad,”
Pistons coach Dwane Casey said.
BAKER MIDDLE SCHOOL INTRAMURAL BOYS BASKETBALL
BMS boys hoops teams in action
Baker City Herald
The Baker Middle School
intramural boys basketball
season continued with two
intrasquad games last
week.
In game 1, Coach Jimmy
Howerton’s team beat
Coach Bryan Dalke’s team
34-23.
Logan Crawford had a
great game for Howerton’s
team, scoring 18 points and
making a pair of 3-pointers.
The rest of the scoring
was done by Dallin Stocks,
who had eight points, Dean
Jobes with six, and Kyran
Payne with 2 points.
Tristan Klecker was the
leading scorer for Dalke’s
team with nine points,
followed by Isaac Berry
with six, Lane Wever with
four, and 2 points each from
Caedmon Myers and Caden
Ballou.
In game 2, Howerton’s
team won a game that was
decided in the last minute
by the score of 36-34.
Dalke’s team got off to a
quick start and led 14-2 at
the end of the fi rst quarter.
Both teams scored seven
points in the second quarter.
In the second half, How-
erton’s team outscored Dal-
ke’s team 27-13. Howerton’s
team was led by Damien
Knie with a season-high 23
points. After a slow start,
Knie pretty much took over
the game with 14 points in
the second half.
Logan Crawford hit a
big 3-pointer in the fourth
quarter to tie the game at
30. Crawford scored fi ve
points, Nolan Briels had
four points, and both Daniel
Maldonado and Dallin
Stocks had two points.
Dalke’s team was led
in scoring by Tyler Wirth
with 12 points and Wil-
liam Spriet with 10 points.
Johndale Buniag hit two
3-pointers and fi nished with
six points, Tristan Klecker
had four points and Isaac
Berry scored two points.
Both teams are improv-
ing so much and it has
made for some great games,
Dalke said.
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