BAKER CITY HERALD • SATuRDAY, FEBRuARY 12, 2022 A5
SPORTS
BAKER BOYS BASKETBALL
Bulldogs hold off Vale’s late rally
Vikings score
final 15 points
in Baker High’s
68-65 win
VALE (65)
Ramirez 0 0-0 0, Stepleton 4
2-2 12, Wolfe 8 2-3 19, Steele
5 1-3 11, McGourty 1 0-0 3,
Johnson 7 3-3 17, Haueter 0
0-0 0, Kurata 1 0-0 3. Totals 26
8-11 65.
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
As Baker neared the end of
what had been a dominating
performance against Vale, the
only element of suspense was
whether the Bulldogs would
score at least 80 points for the
fifth time this season.
The Vikings, however, made
the final stanza quite a lot
more dramatic.
Vale scored the final 15 points
of the nonleague boys basketball
game on Wednesday, Feb. 9, in
the Baker gym.
But even that prodigious rally
couldn’t quite pierce the cushion
that Baker had built during what
had been one of its best games.
The Bulldogs held on for a 68-
65 win that stopped their losing
streak at two games.
“We played a great three and
a half quarters of basketball,”
Baker coach Jebron Jones said
with a rueful smile.
The last part wasn’t the sort
of stretch to prompt any sort
of smile.
“It was tough to watch,”
Jones said.
But the win counts the same,
of course, regardless of the fi-
nal score.
And after the consecutive
losses to Powder Valley on Feb.
5 and to La Grande just one
night before the Vale game,
Jones said a victory more than
offset the tense finish against
the Vikings.
“I was proud of the kids, the
way they responded after the
last two games,” he said. “They
came out with energy.”
That energy propelled Baker
to a 17-0 run that extended from
the first quarter into the second
and gave Baker a 23-9 lead when
Isaiah Jones made the second of
his four 3-pointers.
After Vale’s Kade Kurata
ended the run with a 3-pointer
of his own, Jones responded
with another long ball to give
Baker a 26-12 lead with 7:03 left
in the second quarter.
Baker’s lead mostly stayed
in double digits thereafter un-
til the final minutes, swelling to
as much as 22 points, at 58-36,
on Hudson Spike’s basket off an
assist from Jaxon Logsdon with
1:36 left in the third quarter.
Jaron Long, who returned to
the starting lineup after miss-
ing three games with a knee in-
jury, and coming off the bench
against La Grande, made a
floater from the key to boost
Baker’s lead to 68-50 with 4:41
left in the game.
Long’s shot prompted Vale
coach Colby Shira to call a
timeout.
It was a good one.
Baker didn’t score again.
Vale had no such problem.
After the timeout, Diesel
Johnson hit a 15-foot jumper to
cut the lead to 68-52.
That was still the score with
just 3:17 left when Colten
Stepleton made a 3-pointer to
get the Vikings to within 68-55.
It sparked a 7-point flurry in
just 28 seconds.
Vale’s fullcourt press ignited
the rally, forcing consecutive
turnovers that lead to a layin by
Tanner Steele and a rebound
basket by Johnson with 2:49 left.
BAKER (68)
Logsdon 3 0-0 6, Gamble-
ton 0 0-0 0, Quintela 0 0-0 0,
Younger 3 0-0 6, Molina 3 0-0
6, Spike 4 1-2 9, Jones 6 2-3
18, Long 6 2-2 16, Hobson 2
0-0 5, Mitchell 1 0-0 2. Totals
28 5-7 67.
Vale 9 19 14 23 — 65
Baker 20 23 17 8 — 68
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Hayden Younger goes to the basket against Vale on Wednesday,
Feb. 9, 2022, in the Baker gym.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Isaiah Jones looks for room against the defense of Vale’s Diesel
Johnson, left, and Colten Stepleton on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in the
Baker gym.
That trimmed Baker’s lead
to 68-59 and prompted Jebron
Jones to call timeout.
But the break didn’t dissolve
Vale’s momentum.
Johnson scored again in the
lane to cut Baker’s lead to 68-61
with 2:21 left, and after another
steal he made two free throws,
with 2:08 left, that got Vale to
within 68-63.
In the span of a few minutes,
what seemed destined to be an
easy Baker win started to resem-
ble the teams’ Jan. 18 game at
Vale, which went to three over-
times before Baker won 88-87.
But after Johnson’s free
throws, neither team scored for
more than a minute and a half
of game time.
Baker managed to break
the Vikings’ press and to drain
more than a minute off the
clock by passing the ball around
the perimeter.
But Vale got another steal
with 47.7 seconds left, and John
Wolfe made a jumper from near
the free throw line with 36 sec-
onds left to make it a one-pos-
session game at 68-65.
That turned out to the final
score.
But it was hardly the end of
the drama.
After another Baker turnover,
Shira called timeout with 21.6
seconds left.
Then Vale’s Adam Ramirez,
who didn’t score, launched a
3-pointer from the right wing
with 14 seconds left. It was very
close to the spot where Pow-
der Valley’s Reece Dixon made
a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left
to give the Badgers a 69-68 win
over Baker on Feb. 5.
Ramirez’s shot clanged off the
rim.
Isaiah Jones grabbed the re-
bound and was fouled with 8.8
seconds left.
Jones missed the front end
of a one-and-one, and Baker
fouled Steele, who got the re-
bound, with 7 seconds left.
He also missed the front end
of a one-and-one, and this time
Spike snared the rebound. Vale
tipped the ball out of bounds
but Baker retained possession.
On the inbounds play,
Long heaved a pass to a leap-
ing Jones near midcourt, who
caught the ball and passed to
Logsdon, who immediately
tossed the ball crosscourt to
Spike as time expired.
Jebron Jones said Baker
didn’t handle Vale’s frenetic
fullcourt press well in those fi-
nal 4 minutes.
He said it was one of the few
times this season that any oppo-
nent has pressed Baker, and in
previous cases the Bulldogs had
little trouble breaking the press.
OREGON MEN’S BASKETBALL
He acknowledged, though,
that Vale had an advantage that
enabled the Vikings to defend
even more aggressively.
Vale had just two team fouls
when the rally started.
That meant the Vikings could
take chances when going for
steals without worrying that if
they fouled, Baker would shoot
free throws.
“They were playing with no
inhibitions,” Jones said.
He said the Vikings, regardless
of the foul situation, have several
athletic players with quick hands
and long arms, a formidable
combination for a team employ-
ing a fullcourt press.
But Jones said the Bulldogs
also contributed much to Vale’s
rally by throwing “long, loopy
passes” that were easier to inter-
cept, and by failing to move to-
ward the ball on passes.
Long, who scored 16 points
in his second game back from
the knee injury, said facing
Vale’s press was similar to what
the Bulldogs’ opponents deal
with when Baker deploys its
press and halfcourt trap, both of
which have been keys in several
of the team’s wins.
Long, a freshman, said he
was happy to return to the
starting lineup.
“It was hard to sit back and
watch,” he said. “After two losses
it was frustrating. I felt like we
came out with a vengeance.”
Vale led 9-6 early, but Baker
scored the last 14 points of the
first quarter.
Five Bulldogs scored in the
quarter, led by Isaiah Jones
with seven and Lane Molina
with four.
Most of Baker’s nine field
goals in the quarter were on as-
sists, a trend that always bodes
well for Baker, Jebron Jones said.
“We’re at our best when we’re
unselfish,” he said. “When we
move without the ball and look
for our teammates, we’re pretty
tough to defend.”
Speaking of defense, Bak-
er’s focus was on Johnson,
the 6-foot-5 sophomore who
scored 31 points in the Jan. 18
game at Vale.
“He was a focal point,” Jones
said. “We know where he likes
to get the ball, and when he gets
it in that sweet spot he’s danger-
ous, and we don’t have anybody
who can jump with him. The
kids did a good job forcing him
off his spot.”
Johnson scored just five
points in the first half. He fin-
ished with 17. Wolfe had a
game-high 19 points.
Isaiah Jones led Baker with 18
points, 16 in the first half. Spike
added nine points, Hayden
Younger, Logsdon and Molina
had six each, and Paul Hobson
had five points.
BAKER MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL
Harmon helps Oregon pick BMS girls win 7 of 9
up its fourth straight win basketball games
EUGENE (AP) — De’Vion Har-
mon had a season-high 21 points,
Will Richardson scored all 12 of his
in the final 10 minutes and Oregon
defeated Stanford 68-60 on Thurs-
day night, Feb. 10, for the Ducks’
fourth straight win.
Harmon was 8-of-15 shooting
with three 3-pointers. Richardson,
the Pac-12’s top 3-point percent-
age shooter going in at 46.7%, was
only 3 of 14 from the field, includ-
ing 1 of 8 from the arc, but came
on late to help the Ducks (16-7,
9-3) hold off the Cardinal. N’Faly
Dante also scored 12 points with
seven rebounds.
Maxime Raynaud and Michael
O’Connell scored 11 points each
and Harrison Ingram and Brandon
Angel had 10 apiece with Angel
grabbing 10 rebounds for Stanford
(14-10, 7-7), which has lost two
straight. Jaiden Delaire, who aver-
ages 11 points a game and made a
buzzer-beating 3-pointer in scoring
20 points in Stanford’s 72-69 win
over Oregon on Dec. 12, was score-
less in 19 minutes.
Oregon quickly extended an
eight-point halftime lead when
Dante finished an 8-2 half-opening
run with an emphatic dunk. The
Ducks didn’t get another bucket
for over six minutes but still had a
five-point edge when Richardson
scored midway through the half to
end the drought.
Stanford’s Raynaud cut the lead
to three with a basket moments
later, the closest the Cardinal would
come. Ingram missed a 3-pointer
with 35.6 seconds left that would
have cut the lead to two. Richardson
then made four straight free throws.
Harmon scored 12 points in the
first half when Oregon led almost
the entire way and took a 32-24 lead.
Both teams shot in the low 40s
but Oregon made 13 of 15 free
throws to 4 of 4 for the Cardinal,
who had 17 turnovers.
Baker City Herald
Baker Middle School
girls basketball teams have
won seven of nine recent
games, including two games
where the Dawgs didn’t al-
low their opponent to score.
Seventh grade
• Baker 62, Pendleton 0
Baker’s leading scor-
ers were Jaxyn Ramos and
Kyndal Chandler with 12
points each.
• Baker 68, Burns 10
Kaitlynn Schwinn was
the leading scorer with 17
points, and Lily Logsdon
had 12.
• Baker 57, La Grande 8
Chandler had 20 points,
and Ramos 14.
Eighth grade
• Baker 47, Pendleton 0
Raegen Gulick had
13 points to lead Baker,
and Raegan Ritter added
10 points.
• Baker 62, Burns 8
Gulick had 18 points
to lead Baker, and Gracie
Spike scored 16.
• La Grande 46, Baker 38
Gwen Rasmussen had 10
points for Baker, and Spike
added nine.
Mixed seventh and eight
grade rosters
• Crane 59, Baker 43
Logsdon and Chandler
had 10 points each.
• Baker 47, Crane 42
Logsdon had 13 points
to lead Baker, and Chan-
dler scored 10.
• Baker 68, Grant
Union 14
Rasmussen led the
Dawgs with 16 points, and
Schwinn added 12.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald, File
Baker senior Gauge Bloomer carries the ball against La Grande
during the Bulldogs’ Homecoming game Friday, Oct. 29, 2021.
GOL schools
push for larger
football league
BY DAVIS CARBAUGH
The (La Grande) Observer
WILSONVILLE — Local
football coaches and athletic
directors are advocating for
a larger football league in
Eastern Oregon.
Based on the Oregon
School Activities Associa-
tion’s latest football update,
three local schools will likely
have their wishes granted.
At the most recent OSAA
Football Ad Hoc Com-
mittee meeting in Wilson-
ville on Wednesday, Feb. 2,
athletic directors from La
Grande, Baker and Pend-
leton spoke by video to ex-
press their concerns about
a potential three-team
league. In the committee’s
update on Feb. 4, the newly
proposed Greater Ore-
gon League would include
Crook County, Madras and
The Dalles.
“What we’re looking for
is something just more eq-
uitable and something that’s
more sustainable, at least for
the next couple years, in-
stead of having a three-team
league,” Pendleton Athletic
Director Mike Somnis said
at the meeting.
Pendleton recently
moved down from the 5A
ranks to join Baker and La
Grande at the 4A level, but
former GOL team Ontario
is also set to move down.
McLoughlin and Ontario
will both be 3A schools
when the districts are re-
shuffled in 2022. The 3A
Eastern Oregon League is
set to consist of Burns, Mc-
Loughlin, Nyssa/Harper
Charter, Ontario and Vale.
Between the 2016 and
2019 seasons, GOL teams
played home-and-away se-
ries — this was emphasized
in the OSAA meeting as an
area of concern that a larger
league could fix. Coming
off a shortened 2020 season,
La Grande and other GOL
schools played five non-
league matchups and two
league matchups to con-
clude the season.
La Grande Athletic
Director Darren Good-
man noted that the Tigers
have only had two league
matchups each of the last
two seasons.
“Our kids deserve a de-
cent league and the only
reason we’re not getting it is
because of where our school
is,” he told the committee.
Goodman, along with the
two other athletic directors,
voiced the shared opinion
that GOL schools are willing
to travel in order to compete
in a larger league.
The trip from La
Grande to Crook County
is an estimated 4½ hours
without traffic, while Ma-
dras is roughly a four-
hour drive.
OSAA’s update also de-
tailed that three teams from
the Greater Oregon League
will qualify for the 16-team
playoffs. The newly-pro-
posed district for the 2022
season reflect a similar plan
proposed by Baker Athletic
Director Buell Gonzales,
who proposed an eight-
team league to the commit-
tee. The Dalles and Crook
County would drop down
from 5A, while Madras was
formerly a member of the
Tri-Valley Conference.
According to Gonzales,
the league could be cre-
ated in a way that limits the
amount of times outside
schools would have to travel
to Eastern Oregon.
“We can be creative in
our scheduling and make it
so one school does not have
to travel to all three in the
same season,” Gonzales said.
All three athletic di-
rectors emphasized that
the added travel would be
worth the benefits of beef-
ing up the league.
“In the fall, it’s never
been an issue with weather,”
Goodman informed the
committee. “We haven’t had
a team ever in the fall not be
able to get to us or us getting
to another school. That isn’t
a valid reason to not give us
two or three more teams.
We’re willing to travel.”
Baker head football coach
Jason Ramos echoed a sim-
ilar sentiment, noting that
the prospect of proposed
trips to Central Oregon is
not a factor.
“I’m in favor of the ex-
pansion proposal,” Ramos
said. “A three-team league
doesn’t do us any good. The
OSAA has to do something
to help us out, and I think
this is a reasonable solution
to that issue.”
With the four-team GOL
roster that’s been in place
for more than a decade,
Baker has had to travel far-
ther than that, including
to Western Washington
in past seasons, to fill its
schedule, Ramos said.
The OSAA Football Ad
Hoc Committee is set to
meet again in Wilsonville at
9 a.m. on Feb. 16.
POWDER VALLEY BOYS, GIRLS BASKETBALL
Badgers beat Joseph
to extend win streaks
Baker City Herald
NORTH POWDER —
Powder Valley boys and
girls basketball teams ex-
tended their winning streaks
with victories over Joseph
on Thursday, Feb. 10, in the
Powder Valley gym.
The Badger boys ran
their winning streak to 11
games with a 51-40 win.
Kaden Krieger had a
game-high 27 points to
lead the Badgers, including
9 of 17 from the free throw
line. Kaiden Dalke added
13 points.
The Badgers, 19-1 overall
and the top-ranked Class
1A team, sought to com-
plete an unbeaten Old Ore-
gon League schedule when
they played host to Cove on
Friday night, Feb. 11.
The Powder Valley girls
beat Joseph 54-23 to im-
prove their Old Oregon
League record to 7-3, and
to 11-10 overall with their
third straight win.
The Badgers outscored
Joseph in every quarter, in-
cluding 11-1 in the fourth.
Jodi Bingham led Powder
with 14 points, and Paige
Marlia had 12 points.
The girls team completes
its league schedule by play-
ing host to Cove on Friday,
Feb. 11, and then traveling
to Elgin on Saturday, Feb.
12, for a 6 p.m. tip off.