BAKER CITY HERALD • SATuRDAY, JAnuARY 15, 2022 A5
SPORTS
POWDER VALLEY BOYS BASKETBALL
OREGON DUCKS NEW FOOTBALL COACH
Badgers nip Umatilla at buzzer
Fresh off national title, Lanning
hits ground running at Oregon
Top-ranked
Powder Valley
boys improve
to 13-1
BY ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Dan Lanning was all-in as Oregon’s
new head coach the moment he stepped
off the field from celebrating Georgia’s
national championship.
Lanning was hired by the Ducks last
month, but first he finished out his run
as defensive coordinator for the Bull-
dogs, who on Monday, Jan. 10, beat Ala-
bama 33-18 for the national title.
“Walking off the field in the tunnel,
after winning the national champion-
ship, I was on FaceTime with a guy that
can enhance our program and make us
better,” Lanning said. “So yeah, abso-
lutely, at that moment I was a Duck.”
Lanning arrived on campus in Eu-
gene on Tuesday, Jan. 11, and set about
touring the campus, meeting players
and prepping to hit the recruiting trail.
Lanning, 35, replaces Mario Cristobal,
who left the Ducks after four seasons to
become the head coach at Miami.
Oregon finished 10-4 this past sea-
son, falling 47-32 to Oklahoma in the
Alamo Bowl. The Ducks had high
hopes after an upset of Ohio State put
the team in the early playoff picture. But
it was short-lived, and Oregon lost reg-
ular season games to Stanford and Utah
to fall out of the running.
Oregon ended the season ranked No. 22.
BAKER CITY HERALD
The top-ranked Powder Valley
boys basketball team ran its season
record to 13-1 on Thursday, Jan. 13,
but it took a miraculous final sec-
ond at Umatilla.
Well, not an entire second.
Or even half of one, come to that.
With just four-tenths of a sec-
ond on the clock and the score tied
at 44, the Badgers, who had trailed
most of the game, had possession
under their own basket.
Powder’s Reece Dixon made the
inbounds pass.
It was a lob, intended as an al-
ley-oop attempt for fellow senior
Kaden Krieger. Four-tenths of
a second isn’t enough time for a
player to actually catch the ball
and shoot.
Krieger, though, couldn’t get to
the ball before it hit the floor near
the free throw line.
But none of the Viking defend-
ers touched the ball, either, so the
clock didn’t start.
Krieger adjusted, scooped the
ball off the bounce in one mo-
tion to the hoop, where it rolled
around the rim and slipped
through the net.
And with that, the Class 1A
Badgers walked off the court with
a 46-44 win, their second victory
this season over a Class 3A oppo-
nent, following a 57-35 win over
Burns on Dec. 28 in the Baker
holiday tournament.
“It was a good game for us
against a really fast team,” Powder
head coach Kyle Dixon said. “We
just play hard. We’re ready to go.”
The game got off to a slow start
as both offenses looked to get in
rhythm. Umatilla held a 14-3 lead
after the first quarter, but Powder
Valley managed to cut the lead
to 20-16 at halftime. It was a bal-
anced scoring effort for the Bad-
gers throughout the game, with
Clay Martin scoring five points
in each half. Martin and Kaiden
There’s already a little intrigue heading into
the coming season: The Ducks will face
Georgia in the opener on Sept. 3 in Atlanta.
Lanning has been busy behind the
scenes assembling a staff, which in-
cludes offensive coordinator Kenny Dil-
lingham, who spent the last two seasons
in the same position at Florida State,
and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi,
who comes to the Ducks from the NFL’s
Jacksonville Jaguars.
Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thi-
bodeaux is off to the draft, where he’s
expected to be one of the top picks, but
Auburn quarterback Bo Nix announced
last month that he’ll play for Oregon af-
ter entering the transfer portal.
Nix, a former five-star recruit and
three-year starter for the Tigers, injured
his ankle late in the season. Before he
was hurt, Nix completed 197 of 323
passes for 2,294 yards with 11 touch-
downs and three interceptions. He also
ran for four touchdowns.
“What I know about Bo, he’s an ul-
timate competitor, I know how hard
he works,” Lanning said on Thursday.
“We were really clear with Bo. ‘Hey, you
come in here, there’s certainly an oppor-
tunity to compete.’ But we’re really ex-
cited about the guys we have on our ros-
ter as well and excited to see those guys
come in and compete and go to work.”
Barton scores 21, Nuggets
beat depleted Blazers 140-108
BY PAT GRAHAM
Associated Press
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Powder Valley’s Kaden Krieger, seen here against Burns on Dec. 28, 2021, had
the game-winning basket at the buzzer as the Badgers beat Umatilla 46-44 on
Thursday, Jan. 13, at Umatilla.
Dalke both led the team with 10
points each.
The Vikings snapped back into
form in the third quarter and ex-
tended their narrow lead to 34-
26 heading into the final frame.
Krieger was strong in the fourth
quarter, scoring six of his nine
points in the last eight minutes.
Other than an 80-75 loss to
Adrian on Dec. 27, the Badgers
have been perfect on the year.
Powder Valley has two more
games scheduled against larger
schools, this time a pair of contests
at Class 4A La Grande on Jan. 18,
and at Baker on Feb. 5.
A previously scheduled matchup
at Griswold on Jan. 15 was canceled
due to COVID-19 precautions, so
the Badgers will have four days off
before facing the Tigers. Tip-off at
La Grande High School is set for
7:30 p.m.
— Davis Carbaugh of
The (La Grande) Observer
contributed to this story.
DENVER — Will Barton had 21
points before leaving late in the third
quarter with a strained neck, Nikola Jo-
kic added 20 and the Denver Nuggets
beat the depleted Portland Trail Blazers
140-108 on Thursday night, Jan. 13.
The Nuggets built their lead to 26
points in the third quarter — and this
time didn’t let it slip away.
Two nights ago, Denver blew a
25-point lead in Los Angeles against
the Clippers. The loss of big leads
has become an alarming trend for
the Nuggets.
But not this time. Although, it did
take the Nuggets nearly three min-
utes into the third quarter before scor-
ing their first basket — a dunk by Jeff
Green, who finished with 19 points.
That got them rolling again.
“I think everybody who’s a Nuggets
fan was probably wondering when we
got up big when the collapse was going
to happen,” coach Michael Malone said.
“Give our guys credit.”
Facundo Campazzo had 18 points
and 12 assists for Denver. Jokic, who
didn’t play in the fourth quarter, also
had eight rebounds and seven assists. It
was a rare game in which he didn’t have
a double-double.
Ben McLemore had 18 points as all
five Portland starters scored in dou-
ble digits to begin a six-game trip. The
Blazers were without their top four
scorers in Damian Lillard (abdominal
tendinopathy), CJ McCollum (right
lung pneumothorax), Norman Pow-
ell (health & safety protocols) and An-
fernee Simons (personal reasons).
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