A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2021
SPORTS
BAKER BOYS BASKETBALL
Bulldogs lose on
buzzer-beater
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald, File
Rylee Elms, shown here against Homedale on Dec. 2, scored 11 points in Baker’s 48-
47 loss at Pendleton on Tuesday, Dec. 7.
Baker girls rally, but
fall short at Pendleton
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Baker girls basketball
coach Buell Gonzales Jr. sees
missed opportunities when he
peruses the scoresheet for the
Bulldogs’ 48-47 loss at Pendle-
ton on Tuesday, Dec. 7.
Thirteen of them, actually.
Baker rallied late after
trailing most of the game and
had a four-point lead before
the Buckaroos scored the fi nal
fi ve points of the game.
“It was a tough one,”
Gonzales said of the loss that
dropped Baker’s record to 1-1.
Especially because of the
13 free throws Baker missed.
The Bulldogs were 8 for 21
at the charity stripe, a result
that’s charitable mostly to the
opponents.
Although Gonzales was
pleased with Baker’s aggres-
sive play on offense, which
led to Pendleton committing
23 fouls, the Bulldogs largely
squandered that effort with
the poor shooting.
“You’re not going to win a
lot of games on the road miss-
ing that many free throws,”
he said.
Gonzales said Baker com-
mitted costly turnovers and
had a couple defensive lapses
that allowed Pendleton to
rally late for the win.
“We can’t turn the ball
over like that on the road,”
he said.
The game was close
throughout.
Pendleton led 19-17 at
halftime, and 34-29 entering
the fi nal period.
“I thought we played re-
ally hard, and the girls made
improvements over the fi rst
game,” Gonzales said. “I was
pleased with the effort.”
But Baker struggled of-
fensively — from the fi eld as
well as the aforementioned
failures at the free throw
line.
“(Pendleton) played zone
(defense) for most of the
game, and we just didn’t
make shots,” Gonzales said.
Junior Jozie Ramos led
Baker with 21 points.
Gonzales said fellow
junior Rylee Elms, who
added 11 points, “stepped up
and played really well,” as
did junior Taylor Gyllenberg,
who played an expanded role
with guard Sydnee Pierce out
of the lineup for the night.
Junior Macey Moore
added eight points.
Gonzales, coaching his
second game after taking
over as coach just before the
season started, said he’s sat-
isfi ed with Baker’s progress
two games into the season.
Baker traveled to Home-
dale, Idaho, today for a
6:30 p.m. PST rematch with
the Trojans, who the Bull-
dogs beat 66-36 in the season
opener on Dec. 2.
Baker then travels the
opposite direction to play at
Estacada on Friday, Dec. 10
and at Molalla the following
day.
The Baker JV team,
which beat Elgin 31-15 on
Dec. 4 to fi nish third in the
Elgin Lions tourney, lost to
Pendleton on Tuesday. The
team’s record is 2-3.
Oregon DE Kayvon
Thibodeaux
announces he’s
going pro
Blazers’
McCollum
has collapsed
lung, out
indefi nitely
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
PORTLAND (AP) — Portland
Trail Blazers guard CJ McCol-
lum has been diagnosed with a
collapsed right lung and will be
sidelined indefi nitely, the team
said Tuesday, Dec. 7.
McCollum was injured in the
fi nal quarter of the Blazers’ 145-
117 loss to the Boston Celtics on
Saturday, Dec. 4. He was listed as
probable with a rib contusion for
Monday night’s game against the
Los Angeles Clippers, but did not
play in the 102-90 loss.
McCollum’s condition was
revealed by a CT scan, the team
said.
He is averaging 20.5 points,
4.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists this
season.
McCollum’s injury is one of
several to befall the struggling
Blazers. All-Star Damian Lillard
has missed four games with
lower abdominal tendinopathy.
Backup point guard Anfernee
Simons is out with a right ankle
sprain, while forward Nassir
Little has missed four games
with a left ankle sprain.
Guard Ben McLemore left the
game against the Clippers with
a bruised hip. Center Cody Zeller
has a bruised right quad.
Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux made
it offi cial on Monday night, Dec. 6 and announced
that he would not return to the Ducks for his senior
year.
Thibodeaux is expected to be one of the top picks
in the upcoming NFL draft, and the move to go pro
was widely anticipated. He announced his decision
on Twitter and Instagram, thanking Oregon for
giving him “the opportunity to transition into a man
ready to take on the world.”
“After much thought, consideration and a lifetime
of preparation, I have decided to forgo my senior
season of football and enter the NFL draft, further
pursuing my dreams,” he wrote.
Thibodeaux will not play for the No. 15 Ducks in
the Alamo Bowl against No. 14 Oklahoma on Dec. 29.
Oregon coach Mario Cristobal left the Ducks
earlier Monday to become head coach at Miami. The
Ducks on Monday night named assistant Bryan Mc-
Clendon, pass game coordinator and wide receivers
coach, interim coach for the bowl game.
A 6-foot-5, 258-pound edge rusher out of Southern
California, Thibodeaux proclaimed at the start of the
season that his goal was to win the Heisman, a tall
order for a defense player.
But he sprained his ankle in Oregon’s opener and
had to miss the next two games. He also was ejected
from the Ducks’ overtime loss at Stanford, and had
to miss the fi rst half of the next game against Cal.
He fi nished the season with 49 tackles, including
12 for loss, and seven sacks. He is a fi nalist for the
Bednarik Award and Bronco Nagurski Trophy.
There’s something about
the Baker boys basketball
team and buzzer-beating
shots.
For the second game in a
row, a last-second shot made
the difference.
But on Tuesday night,
Dec. 7 in Fruitland, Idaho,
the Bulldogs had to watch as
their opponents celebrated a
game-winning shot.
Fruitland senior Nolan
Bower banked in a shot from
the key to give the Grizzlies
a 60-58 win over Baker after
the Bulldogs, who had trailed
the entire game, rallied to tie
the score with less than 10
seconds left.
Three days earlier, Baker
freshman Isaiah Jones made
a 3-pointer at the buzzer
to force overtime against
Banks. The Bulldogs went on
to win that game, 85-81.
Although Baker coach Je-
bron Jones said he was dis-
appointed by the Bulldogs’
fi rst loss after opening the
season with two wins, he was
proud of his team for coming
back against a senior- and
junior-dominated Fruitland
team that is 4-0, including a
season-opening win over a
much larger school, Nampa.
“I was proud of how they
fought back,” Jones said.
“(Fruitland) is a solid team.
They played hard, and they
beat us to a lot of loose balls.
It’s tough to be down early on
someone else’s home court. It
was a good test to see what
we need to improve on.”
Fruitland led 23-16 after
the fi rst quarter, and the
Grizzlies extended their lead
to 37-28 at halftime.
But Baker rallied in
the second half, outscoring
Fruitland 20-15 in the third
quarter. Isaiah Jones had
eight of his team-high 12
points in the quarter. Fellow
freshman Jaron Long had
four points, and sophomore
Paul Hobson and junior
Diego Quintela each had a
3-pointer as the Bulldogs cut
the lead to 52-48 entering
the fi nal quarter.
Freshman Jaxon Logsdon
scored fi ve of his 10 points in
the fourth quarter as Baker
forged the tie, only to have
Bower hit the game-winner.
Jebron Jones said Baker’s
diffi cult nonconference
schedule to start the season
will benefi t the team when
it starts Greater Oregon
League play in January.
“I’m happy we’re playing
tough games early,” he said.
Fruitland’s Jacob Ha-
mann led all scorers with
23 points, including fi ve
3-pointers.
Baker shot just four free
throws against Fruitland,
making three, and Jones
said the Bulldogs, who have
several good free throw
shooters, need to do a better
job of getting to the line.
The Grizzlies were 5 for 8
from the line.
Baker’s JV team beat
Fruitland, 67-61, and the
Baker JV2 team lost 62-51.
Baker plays its fi rst home
game tonight at 7:30 p.m.
against Homedale, Idaho,
a rematch of the season-
opener, which Baker won
55-49 at Homedale.
The Bulldogs then head
west for the fi rst of three
long road trips, playing at
Estacada on Friday, Dec. 10
and at Molalla on Saturday.
Baker seventh-grade boys
hoops team unbeaten
Baker City Herald
The Baker Middle
School seventh-grade boys
basketball team has won
its fi rst seven games.
The most recent win
was a 48-8 rout of Central
Middle School in Milton-
Freewater on Tuesday,
Dec. 7.
Quin Wellman and
Hayden Churchfi eld led
Baker with 10 points each.
Earlier this season,
Baker beat La Grande
twice, 73-31 and 68-22;
Burns, 80-10; John Day,
69-22; Mac-Hi, 68-10; and
Pendleton, 47-43.
Baker’s roster is Gavin
Scott, Kane Hellberg, Gabe
Schwartz, Hayden Church-
fi eld, Quin Wellman, Ryder
Nimmo, Ben Nudd, Jace
Whitfi eld, Ezaiah Suarez,
Jacob Burton, Wes Burton
and Jake Christensen.
Baker plays host to
Burns Friday, Dec. 10 at
noon at BMS.
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210 Bridge St. Baker City, OR