BAKER CITY HERALD • SATuRDAY, JAnuARY 22, 2022 A5
SPORTS
BAKER WRESTLING
Baker handles Nyssa, 52-23
BAKER CITY HERALD
Baker wrestling coach
Brandon Young wasn’t going
to underestimate Nyssa.
Not even when the other
Bulldog squad was coming
into a dual on Wednesday,
Jan. 19, in the Baker gym with
a depleted team.
“We knew their lineup was
down tonight, and we warned
our pack, ‘What does a wild
animal do when it’s wounded?
It fights, it gets mean.’ And
that is exactly what the Nyssa
Bulldogs brought tonight,”
Young said. “Our guys did not
underestimate them and got
the job done.”
With Nyssa forced to for-
feit at 106, 113 120 and 195
pounds, Baker won 52-23.
Young said he had hoped
to have the matches during
a school assembly start-
ing at 2 p.m., but with the
COVID-19 situation that
wasn’t possible.
Wrestling started at 5 p.m.
“Next year we get to go to
their house, hopefully we get
to do it during their assem-
bly like we had planned here,”
Young said.
Russell Walden got Baker
started at 220 pounds fac-
ing off against Nyssa’s Jesse
Aragon, one of the team’s top
wrestlers.
“Russell canceled a decent
shot from Aragon and after
that Aragon was able to get
the takedown and the pin,”
Young said.
Jaden Martin gave Baker its
first points with a first-round
pin of Kody Van Meter in the
heavyweight match.
At 126 pounds, Cole Hester
Baker pins Mac-Hi,
65-12
MILTON-FREEWATER — The
Bulldogs, facing duals on
back-to-back nights, were
up to the task, romping over
Mac-Hi, 65-12, on Thursday,
Jan. 20, at Milton-Freewater.
Complete results weren’t
available by press time on
Friday, Jan. 21, but will be
published later. Baker was
back on the mats for a third
straight day, in the Grant
Union tournament, on Fri-
day, Jan. 21.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Gauge Bloomer didn’t have an opponent at his usual 195
pounds, so he wrestled an exhibition match against Nyssa’s Jesse
Aragon on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, in the Baker gym. Bloomer
defeated Gabriel Ortega, 12-4, won by fall.
and then Samuel Nelson won
by fall over Benjamin Mar-
dock in a match that Young
described as a “real slugfest.”
Young said Riley Mar-
tin, wrestling at 138 pounds,
“took on the challenge head
on” and “was relentless in his
pursuit” in his 6-2 decision
over Martin Mendez.
“Our young guys from 126
to 138 kept working hard
and came away with some
wins where the matches were
pretty close,” Young said.
At 145 pounds, Baker se-
nior Gavin Stone pinned Por-
ter Carlton in the first round.
“He is really starting to
look like a wrestling ma-
chine,” Young said of Stone.
“He is so dedicated and con-
tinues to fine tune his skills.”
At 152 pounds, Baker’s Ben
Coburn took on Ashton Wil-
son.
“He refused to give up
and was able to avoid being
pinned, which ended up in a
technical fall, worth five team
points for Nyssa, and saved us
one team point,” Young said.
“Ben has such a great work
ethic, he never stops trying.”
Christian Mardock pinned
Baker’s Ryan Brown at 160
pounds.
At 170, Baker’s Cody Es-
kew was tied at 0 with Or-
lando Perfecto going into the
third period, but Eskew got
an escape and then a take-
down to win 3-0.
In the 182-pound match,
Baker’s Adrian Allen wres-
tled Alec Carey, whom Young
described as “one of the big-
gest 182-pounders we have
seen. Adrian fought hard, but
Carey earned the fall.”
Gauge Bloomer won by
forfeit at 195 pounds, but he
wrestled an exhibition against
Aragon, Nyssa’s 220-pounder.
“Bloomer got the first take-
down in the first period and
then Aragon got an escape,”
Younger said. “Aragon chose
down in the second period
and Bloomer was able to ride
him out and really wear him
down. Bloomer hit an explo-
sive standup and earned his
one-point escape, then earned
a takedown to a fall.”
There were several other
exhibition matches for some
of Baker’s less-experienced
wrestlers, both boys and girls,
including:
• Michael Endersby, 126
pounds, def. Ian Esplin, 10-6.
• Sage Darlington, 126
pounds, lost to William Sav-
age, 10-6.
• River Clark, 126 pounds,
lost to William Savage, 2-0.
• Lilly Collins, 138 pounds,
lost by fall to Hailie Ballou.
• Sarah Plummer, 145
pounds, lost by fall to Hailie
Ballou.
• Julian Garcia, 145
pounds, lost by fall to Glen
Hartley.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Gavin Stone, top, pinned Nyssa’s Porter Carlton in the first
round of their match on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, in the Baker gym.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Sarah Plummer, bottom, wrestled two exhibition matches
during a dual against Nyssa on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, in the
Baker gym.
• Sarah Plummer, 145
pounds, won by fall over Abi-
gail Mardock.
• Ethan Morgan, 182
pounds, lost to Orlando Per-
fecto, 10-1.
Baker’s busy week contin-
COVID complicates sports scheduling
Baker boys
basketball coach
Jebron Jones to
miss 2 games
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The record-setting surge in
COVID-19 cases has the po-
tential to keep Baker students
off the court as well as out of
the classroom.
And coaches face the same
potential issues as teachers
do.
“It’s a challenge,” Baker
School District Athletic Di-
rector Buell Gonzales Jr. said
on Friday morning, Jan. 21.
A complicating factor
when it comes to sports is
that Baker teams can be, and
have been, affected by what’s
happening in other places.
The Bulldog boys and girls
varsity basketball teams, for
instance, were scheduled to
Gonzales said Jones, who
open Greater Oregon League stepped in to coach the Baker
play on Jan. 11 by playing
JV team on Jan. 18 at Vale,
host to La Grande.
was potentially ex-
But the Tigers, due
posed to the virus,
to COVID-19 issues
as four members
with both teams,
of the Baker JV
couldn’t play that
team are quarantin-
ing for at least five
day. The games have
days.
been rescheduled for
Coaches and
Feb. 8.
players who are ex-
The Baker boys
Gonzales
posed to someone
also had their Jan. 14
game at Mac-Hi rescheduled who tested positive have to
to Jan. 22 due to COVID-19 quarantine, Gonzales said.
problems with the Pioneers. They can return after five
days if they have no symp-
The effects don’t all stem
toms; they’re not required to
from outside the Baker
be tested.
School District, however.
The exception to the quar-
The Bulldog boys varsity
team, 10-3 and ranked eighth antine requirement is for
coaches and players who are
in the state Class 4A stand-
ings, didn’t have head coach up to date on their vaccina-
Jebron Jones on the bench for tions, Gonzales said.
A coach or player who
the Friday, Jan. 21, game at
home against Ontario, or for tests positive, however, is re-
quired to quarantine regard-
the rescheduled matchup at
Mac-Hi set for the next day. less of vaccination status.
Brown scores
27, Washington
defeats Oregon
State, 82-72
CORVALLIS (AP) — Ter-
rell Brown Jr. scored 27 points
and Washington turned back
Oregon State 82-72 on Thurs-
day night, Jan. 20, despite being
without head coach Mike Hop-
kins.
With Hopkins in COVID-19
protocol, assistant Will Conroy
stepped in as head coach. And
the Huskies (9-7, 4-2 Pac-12
Conference) stepped up to win
their third straight game.
There were 14 lead changes in
a first half that finished with the
Beavers up 38-36. OSU put to-
gether a 6-0 run — back-to-back
3-point plays by Glenn Taylor
Jr., and Dexter Akanno 15 sec-
onds apart — for a 34-29 lead.
It was the largest spurt and big-
gest lead of the first half that saw
both teams shoot at least 50%.
Washington continued the
sharp play after the break,
shooting 58% despite going 3 of
11 from 3-point range and made
only three turnovers. Meanwhile
the Beavers missed all nine of
their 3-pointers — finishing 3 of
19 — and shot 39%.
Brown, the leading scorer in
the league at 21 points a game,
scored 18 after the break on
8-of-12 shooting.
Emmitt Matthews Jr. scored
16 points for Washington with
PJ Fuller adding 11 points and
Jamal Bey 10.
Dashawn Davis scored 17
points, 15 in the second half, to
lead Oregon State (3-14, 1-6),
which has lost four straight. Ro-
man Silva added 13 points and
Glenn Taylor Jr., 10.
Brown tied the game with a
layup in the opening seconds
of the second half and another
layup, which started a 6-0 surge,
put the Huskies up for good 44-
43. His layup capped a 10-2 run
for a 52-45 lead.
Another Brown finish at the
rim started a 7-0 string capped
by Bey’s 3-pointer for a 60-50
lead. The Beavers could get no
closer than five after that and
Brown’s final bucket, with eight
seconds to go, produced the big-
gest lead at 82-70.
The Huskies had a string, be-
ginning with Brown’s go-head
basket, when they made 10 of
12 shots.
Washington plays at Ore-
gon on Sunday night, Jan. 23,
but Oregon State’s home game
against Washington State has
been postponed because of the
Cougars’ COVID-19 concerns.
The next scheduled game for the
Beavers is Jan. 29 at Oregon.
Despite having four boys
quarantining this week,
Baker has been able to con-
tinue fielding both a JV and
a JV2 team because the two
teams didn’t have games on
the same day, and there were
enough players to make up
a roster for each of those
teams for their games, Gon-
zales said.
The situation became more
challenging starting Monday,
Jan. 17, he said.
Prior to that date, the
county was still able to do
contact tracing after some-
one tested positive, and that
had the potential to limit the
number of people who were
potentially exposed and thus
had to quarantine.
But now, with case num-
bers at record highs, contact
tracing is limited, he said.
Now, if a player or coach
tests positive, everyone on
that team who was present at
Juzang, No. 9 UCLA
hold off skidding
Utah, 63-58
BY MATTHEW COLES
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — It
didn’t take Johnny Juzang
long to realize it was going
to be his night.
“I knew pretty early,” Ju-
zang said. “My teammates
found me early and that
got me going.”
Good thing for No. 9
UCLA, because he didn’t
get much help on offense.
Juzang scored a sea-
son-high 28 points and the
Bruins outlasted Utah 63-
58 on Thursday, Jan. 20.
“He knew he could
score so we were trying
to get him in as much
space as we could. I prob-
ably should have got some
more opportunities, but
they were really trying
to take it away from us,”
UCLA coach Mick Cronin
said.
Jules Bernard added 14
points for the Bruins (12-
2, 4-1 Pac-12), who had a
difficult time shaking the
last-place Utes even after a
brilliant start.
Lazar Stefanovic scored
a career-high 18 points but
missed an open jumper
from the top of the key
that could have tied the
game late. Both Gach had
11 points for Utah (8-11,
1-8), which has lost seven
straight.
“I’m unbelievably proud
of our kids. Gave our-
selves every opportunity
to win. Played a complete
game on both ends … and
really showed a lot of te-
nacity,” Utah coach Craig
Smith said.
Trailing 54-51, the Bru-
ins went on a 7-0 run
capped by Juzang’s drive.
The Utes had a couple of
chances to tie it in the fi-
nal 30 seconds, but Jaime
Jaquez Jr. drew an offensive
foul on Gach and the Utes
missed two 3-pointers.
“I know Gach likes to
go hard in transition …
and once I saw him put his
head down, I just slid over
and took it. I was scared
since the ref took a while
to call it,” Jaquez said.
Utah kept the game
tight by trapping on de-
fense in the post and stay-
ing attached to perimeter
shooters. After commit-
ting only three turnovers
in the first half, the Bruins
lost the ball four times in
a 3:36 span and Utah re-
gained the lead.
Midway through the sec-
ond half, Tyger Campbell
went down hard after driv-
ing for a contested layup
and writhed in pain as Ste-
fanovic hit a 3-pointer on
the other end for a 46-42
Utah advantage.
a practice or game with the
person who tested positive is
required to quarantine, again
with the exception of those
who are fully vaccinated,
Gonzales said.
The bottom line, he said, is
that a single positive test can
sideline all or most members
of a team, including coaches.
“That’s what’s shutting
teams down right now,” Gon-
zales said.
As of Friday morning,
Jan. 21, Baker teams weren’t
among those.
But Gonzales said there are
no guarantees.
“It could change tomor-
row,” he said.
ued on Thursday, Jan. 20,
when the Bulldogs traveled to
Milton-Freewater for a dual
with Mac-Hi.
Baker returned to the road
on Friday, Jan. 21, for a tour-
nament in John Day.
Baker Middle
School girls
split with
La Grande
The Baker Middle
School seventh-grade girls
basketball team beat La
Grande 52-9 on Tuesday,
Jan. 18.
La Grande won the
eighth-grade game, 29-24.
Jaxson Ramos was the
leading scorer for the
seventh-graders with 15
points. Colbi Bachman
had 13 points and Lily
Logsdon 11.
In the eighth-grade
game, Kayla Coley led
Baker with seven points.
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