A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2022
SPORTS
OLD OREGON LEAGUE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Cove boys win thriller over Pine Eagle
BY DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
The Cove boys basketball
team came just possessions
away from seeing its season
end.
Clutch baskets from Wy-
att Burgess and Patrick Frisch
proved otherwise as the Leop-
ards held on to defeat Pine
Eagle 64-59 at Baker High
School on Thursday, Feb. 17.
The victory kept Cove’s play-
off hopes alive, moving the
team into a semifinal matchup
against Nixyaawii on Friday
afternoon, Feb. 18.
“The mentality was that
we’re in a dog fight and have
to keep punching,” Cove head
coach Doug Wiggins said.
The matchup was neck-
and-neck from start to fin-
ish, as the crowd was on the
edge of its seat for nearly the
entirety of the playoff show-
down.
Pine Eagle jumped out to
a 6-0 advantage, but Cove
would go on to lead for the
remainder of the game un-
til late in the fourth quar-
ter. The Leopards settled in
and built up an 11-6 run as
three-pointers from Wyatt
Burgess, Terrell Davis and
Patrick Frisch sparked an
11-0 run. Frisch and Burgess
were consistent scorers for
Cove, finishing with 19 and
21 points on the night.
The second quarter was
more of the same, as Pine Ea-
gle stayed within striking dis-
tance and battled to trail 30-
25 at halftime.
Both teams gave every
ounce of energy in the sec-
ond half, fighting to keep
their seasons alive. The Spar-
tans quickly tied the game at
34-34 midway through the
quarter as both teams went
back and forth.
Senior Caleb Brown pushed
the tempo for Pine Eagle,
scoring eight points in the
third quarter. Brown scored 21
points on the night and helped
the Spartans make a late
push toward a victory. Any
time it looked as if Pine Ea-
gle would tip the momentum,
Cove’s Wyatt Burgess con-
verted a basket on the follow-
ing possession — the sopho-
Baker vs. La Grande hoops: Round 3
The rematches are set.
Baker’s boys and girls basketball teams will renew their ri-
valry with the La Grande Tigers Saturday evening, Feb. 19, in the
Baker gym.
The girls game is set for 5 p.m., and the boys for about
6:30 p.m.
This is the third meeting between the teams in the past three
weeks.
At stake is the Greater Oregon League’s top seed in the Class
4A playoffs, and a home game in the first round. Boys first-round
games are set for March 4, and girls for March 5.
Both Baker teams could potentially have a home game in the
first round even if they lose to La Grande, depending on their
ranking.
The Baker girls were the GOL regular season champions with
a 6-0 league record. La Grande was second at 4-2. The Tigers
earned the rematch with Baker by beating Mac-Hi 47-34 in a
league playoff game on Thursday, Feb. 17.
Baker won both regular season games, beating La Grande
51-43 on Jan. 28, at La Grande, and 43-25 on Feb. 8, at Baker.
The Baker and La Grande boys split their regular season
meetings and finished tied at 5-1 in league play. Baker is host-
ing Saturday’s game due to its higher RPI ranking. La Grande
beat Mac-Hi 69-39 on Thursday, Feb. 17, to advance to Saturday’s
league championship game.
Neither of the regular season games was close.
Baker dominated at La Grande on Jan. 28, winning 67-41.
The Tigers returned the favor on Feb. 8 at Baker, routing the
Bulldogs, 76-44.
OREGON MEN’S BASKETBALL
Davis Carbaugh/The (La Grande) Observer
Pine Eagle’s Cole Morgan drives toward the basket during a quarterfinal matchup against Cove at Baker
High School on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. The Leopards defeated the Spartans 64-59 to advance to the
semifinals. Morgan scored a game-high 24 points.
more scored six points in the
third quarter and controlled
the tempo for the Leopards
throughout the victory.
“Wyatt Burgess stepped up
big for us, and there at the
end Pat (Frisch) really got
back into the game,” Doug
Wiggins said. “Caleb Wig-
gins got hot from the outside,
which really helped us open
the middle for Pat.”
After Cove went into the
fourth quarter leading 46-
45, both teams ignited of-
fensively in the final frame.
A loss for either team would
end the season.
Pine Eagle junior Cole
Morgan led the charge for the
Spartans, scoring 15 points in
the second half — Morgan led
all scorers with 24 points.
With just over three min-
utes remaining in regulation,
Morgan converted a three-
pointer to give Pine Eagle its
first lead since the first quar-
ter — the Spartans led 57-56.
Frisch bounced back with two
consecutive buckets to put the
Leopards back out front 60-57
with 2:15 left in the fourth —
the junior scored 10 points in
the fourth quarter.
“That’s what our two cap-
tains and leaders are there to
do, help settle the team down
and bring it in,” Wiggins said
of Frisch and Burgess. “When
things started to get out of
control, they were there com-
posing themselves to make the
play they needed.”
Brown scored with 2:05 re-
maining to cut Cove’s lead to
60-59. The Spartans won back
possession with just over a
minute remaining, but Bur-
gess came up with a huge steal
and fast break basket to give
Cove a 62-59 lead.
After a big stop on defense
by Cove, junior Terrell Davis
converted two free-throws
to put the Leopards up 54-59
with 20 seconds remaining in
the game. Brown saw a good
look at a three-pointer for
Pine Eagle, but the Spartans
Rich, poor,
old, young.
Compassion
doesn’t
discriminate.
were unable to make any late
comeback.
The loss ended Pine Eagle’s
season at 8-13 overall.
For Cove, the win ensured
a spot in the district tourna-
ment semifinals against Nixy-
aawii on Friday, Feb. 18. The
Leopards previously defeated
Nixyaawii 49- 46 on Jan. 14.
“Last time we saw Nixy
it was a fight,” Doug Wig-
gins said. “We’re really look-
ing forward to it and want
to come out and prove what
we’re doing.”
In the other boys quarter-
final on Thursday, Feb. 17,
at Baker High School, Jo-
seph beat Imbler, 60-34, to
advance to a semifinal game
against Powder Valley on Fri-
day, Feb. 18.
On the girls side of the
bracket, Joseph beat Imbler,
40-28, and Wallowa topped
Elgin, 28-18.
Joseph played Nixyaawii on
Friday, Feb. 18, and Wallowa
played Powder Valley.
Arizona State rolls
over Oregon, 81-57
TEMPE, Ariz. — Jalen
Graham, DJ Horne and
Kimani Lawrence combined
for 38 second-half points
when Arizona State raced
away from Oregon for an
81-57 win Thursday night,
Feb. 17.
Graham finished with 18
points and Horne, Lawrence
and Marreon Jackson had 16
each for the Sun Devils (9-15,
5-9 Pac-12), who shot 57%,
made 9 of 20 3-attempts and
outrebounded the Ducks 40-
29.
Arizona State posted its
first regular-season sweep of
Oregon since the 2010-2011
season. Jay Heath’s 3-pointer
with 11 seconds left in over-
time gave the Sun Devils a
69-67 win in Eugene on Dec.
5. But Thursday night’s game
was nothing like that one
with ASU building a dou-
ble-digit lead three minutes
into the second half that it
would maintain and expand.
Will Richardson scored 12
points and Eric Williams Jr. 11
for Oregon (17-9, 10-5), which
came into the game tied for
second with USC after having
won 11 of its last 13 games, in-
cluding five of the past six. The
Ducks shot just 35%, making
only 5 of 26 from the arc.
After falling behind by 19,
four straight turnovers helped
Oregon go on an 8-0 run and
get back within 11 with 11:18
remaining. ASU responded
by outscoring the Ducks
21-6 over seven minutes for a
26-point bulge.
Jackson made 4 of 5 from
the arc and scored all 16 his
points in the first half to lead
Arizona State to a 36-30 lead.
Oregon is at No. 3 Arizona
on Saturday, Feb. 19. Arizona
State is host to Oregon State
that day.
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