BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022 A5
SPORTS
BAKER BOYS BASKETBALL
POWDER VALLEY BOYS
BASKETBALL
Tigers top Baker, claim GOL title Badgers
Baker will have
a home play-in
game on either
Friday, Feb. 25
or Saturday,
Feb. 26
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The La Grande boys
basketball team feels so at
home in the Baker gym
that the Tigers walked out
Saturday night, Feb. 19,
with one of the nets.
This episode of nylon
larceny was minor, though,
compared to the other
things the Tigers left with:
The Greater Oregon
League championship and
a home game in the first
round of the Class 4A play-
offs March 5.
The Tigers had key
runs at the end of the sec-
ond quarter and the start
of the third en route to a
69-52 win over Baker.
The Bulldogs never led.
The game was reminis-
cent of La Grande’s 76-44
win over the Bulldogs, also
in the Baker gym, 11 days
earlier.
In both games the Tigers
used their height and quick
hands to clog passing lanes
and stifle Baker’s normally
efficient offense.
The Bulldogs are the
highest scoring team in the
Class 4A ranks, averaging
68 points per game.
But after Baker’s 67-41
romp over La Grande on
the Tigers’ home floor
on Jan. 28, in the two re-
matches in Baker the Bull-
dogs had their two low-
est-scoring games of the
season, with 44 and 52
points.
(Baker also scored 52 in
a loss to Homedale, also in
Baker, on Dec. 9.)
“Their length worked in
their favor for sure,” Baker
coach Jebron Jones said of
La Grande after the GOL
title game. “They got a lot
of deflections.”
Jones said Baker players
aided La Grande by failing
and Schow in a 43-second
span.
Tsiatsos 1 2-5 4, A. Rodri-
After Sam Tsiatsos
guez 2 1-2 5, Bell 5 12-17
scored on a driving layin,
23, C. Rodriguez 1 2-4 4,
the La Grande lead was
Huntsman 1 0-0 2, Schow
45-22 with 3:44 left in the
3 2-4 9, Hutchins 7 3-4 22,
third quarter.
Staab 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 22-
Logsdon scored off a
36 69.
steal and Spike made con-
secutive 3-pointers to get
BAKER (52)
Baker within 46-30, but
Logsdon 5 0-0 11, Gamble-
Bell’s late basket inside
ton 0 2-2 2, Quintela 0 0-0
gave the Tigers a 48-30
0, Younger 0 0-0 0, Molina 0
0-0 0, Spike 7 0-0 17, Jones
lead at the end of the third
3 2-2 8, Long 1 0-0 2, Hob-
quarter.
son 4 0-0 12, Mitchell 0 0-0
The lead swelled to as
0. Totals 20 4-4 52
much as 24 points, at 57-
33, in the fourth quarter.
La Grande 9 22 17 21 — 69
And although Baker
Baker
7 13 10 22 — 52
never got closer than 63-
48 on Jaron Long’s layin,
Hobson made another Jones said he was happy
3-pointer to tie the score
with Baker’s effort despite
at 12 with 6:40 left in the the big deficit during the
second quarter.
second half.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
It was the final tie.
“They did a great job of
Baker’s Isaiah Jones goes to the basket against La Grande’s
After Bell’s 3-pointer
playing hard, and they fin-
ished the game the right
Jace Schow in the GOL title game on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022, gave La Grande a 15-
12 lead, Baker’s Hudson
way,” he said.
in the Baker gym.
Spike swished a 12-footer
Spike led Baker with
to use enough ball fakes
the southeast corner of
from the key to cut the
17 points. Hobson added
and by “staring at the per- the Baker gym, combining lead to 15-14.
12, Logsdon 11 and Isaiah
son we’re passing to.”
with the raucous Bulldog
Then Hutchins and
Jones eight.
The Bulldogs also missed fans to create an atmo-
Bell, two of the Tigers’ se-
Baker will now have a
multiple shots that they
sphere appropriate for a
nior leaders, took over.
home play-in game either
normally make at a high
game with playoff impli-
Hutchins made con-
on Friday, Feb. 25, or Sat-
percentage, but on Satur-
cations.
secutive 3-pointers in less urday, Feb. 26. The time
day night refused to drop.
After Brady Hutchins’
than a minute to give La
and opponent will be de-
Jones said that, with
3-pointer — the first of his Grande its biggest lead
termined later this week,
the exception of too many five — gave La Grande an thus far, at 21-14.
said Buell Gonzales Jr.,
turnovers, he was gener-
early 5-0 lead, Baker an-
Bell then made six
the Baker School District’s
ally pleased with Baker’s
swered with Jaxon Logs-
straight free throws in the athletic director.
offensive execution.
don’s inside basket and
final 3 minutes of the half,
If the game is Friday,
“We did a good job get- Paul Hobson’s 3-pointer
and Alex Rodriguez and
Feb. 25, it will take place
ting great looks,” he said. to forge a 5-5 tie with 3:35 Jace Schow each had a bas- after the Baker girls game
“But those missed shots
left in what was a some-
ket as the Tigers went on a against Pendleton, which
are such morale boosters what sloppy first quarter. 16-6 run to push their lead starts at 5 p.m. The girls
for them and such morale
Baker’s first points, on
to 31-20 lead at halftime.
game will be followed by
devastators for us. It was a Logsdon’s hoop, came al-
Baker’s bid for a quick
a ceremony honoring the
big disappointment.”
most halfway through the comeback to start the
1972 BHS boys basket-
La Grande, which played period.
second half was foiled
ball team, which finished
without injured point
La Grande’s Devin Bell, when La Grande grabbed second in the state. If the
guard Logan Williams, also who led all scorers with
three straight offensive
boys play-in game is Fri-
had an overwhelming ad- 23 points, scored late to
rebounds on one posses- day, it will take place im-
vantage at the free throw
give the Tigers a 9-7 lead sion, leading to Hutchins’ mediately after the cere-
line. The Tigers shot 36
after one quarter.
basket that boosted the
mony, Gonzales said.
free throws, making 22.
Much more ominously
Tigers lead to 35-20.
The Baker boys game
Baker shot just four, and
for Baker, the Bulldogs
“They did a great job
against Pendleton, orig-
made all of them.
picked up their seventh
of crashing the offensive
inally set for Friday, Feb.
Baker made enough
foul with 1:24 left, mean-
boards,” Jones said of the 25, has been canceled due
field goals early to keep
ing La Grande would shoot Tigers.
to the play-in game.
the highly anticipated
free throws on most fouls
Isaiah Jones made
The winner of the
third game between the ri- for the remaining 9½ min- two free throws, but La
play-in game will ad-
vals competitive.
utes of the half.
Grande then scored 10
vance to the first round of
A large contingent of La
The Tigers took advan- straight points, including the Class 4A playoffs on
Grande fans packed into
tage.
3-pointers by Hutchins
March 4.
LA GRANDE (69)
BAKER SWIMMING
Stadler caps high school career with two 2nd-place finishes
happy with both of my
races,” Stadler said. “My
Brianna Stadler finished times were where I wanted
her Baker High School
them to be. I would have
swimming career by fin-
liked to get another first
ishing second in two events place, but the two girls who
at the Class 4A/3A/2A/1A beat me worked really hard
swim meet Saturday, Feb. and are really fast.”
19, at Beaverton.
In the backstroke,
Stadler, a 4-time state
Stadler swam the 100-yard
champion, placed second event in 57.82 seconds. She
in the 100-yard butterfly
said that was her best time
and 100-yard backstroke.
since she set a state record
And although just a
in winning the event as a
fraction of a second kept
freshman in 2019.
Stadler from claiming a
On Saturday, Stadler
fifth individual title —
finished second to Sweet
and winning at least one
Home senior Chloe Taylor,
in each of her high school who broke Stadler’s record
years — she was satisfied
of 56.64 by an eyeblink —
with her times.
0.15 of a second.
“I’m actually really
In the 100-yard butter-
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Ryan Brennecke/The (Bend) Bulletin
Brianna Stadler competes in the 100-yard butterfly.
fly, Stadler said she almost
achieved her goal of finish-
ing in less than 58 seconds.
Her time was 58.30, just
.01 second behind her all-
time best and less than half
a second behind Adrienne
Tam, a sophomore from
Catlin Gabel, who finished
in 57.77 seconds.
That race almost had a
disastrous start for Stadler
when her goggles broke
while she was poised on
the starting blocking, pre-
paring to dive in.
Fortunately her dad,
Randy Stadler, who’s also
the Baker High School
swimming coach, dashed
in with an extra pair.
“I was a little panicked
for a second,” Brianna
Stadler said.
Randy Stadler said he
was especially proud of
Brianna for making sure
she personally congratu-
lated both Taylor and Tam
for their races.
Brianna, who was the
lone Baker swimmer at
the state meet, amassed
10 points for her two run-
ner-up finishes, giving
Baker a tie for seventh in
the team standings.
Brianna, who will swim
for Colorado Mesa Uni-
versity this fall, said she
plans to take a week or
two off before resuming
training and competing in
some club meets.
fall short
in OOL
title game
BY DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
The pursuit of a perfect league season came
just one game short for the Powder Valley
Badgers.
The Powder Valley boys basketball team
battled out a hard-fought Old Oregon League
Championship game, but ultimately lost to
Nixyaawii 59-51 at Baker High School on Sat-
urday, Feb. 19. The Badgers were one game
shy of winning all 11 of their league games
this year.
The matchup went down to the wire, as the
two top Old Oregon League teams battled to
the last possession in front of a packed house
at Baker High School. Senior point guard Re-
ece Dixon led the Badgers with 16 points in a
gutsy performance after sustaining a leg injury
midway through the contest.
“I think we just didn’t shoot well. Hats off to
them, they came out and played a hard game,”
Powder Valley head coach Kyle Dixon said.
“I thought we struggled from the floor and
they’re a fast team, they’re solid.”
Nixyaawii came out quick to start the game,
taking an early advantage. The Golden Ea-
gles led for the majority of the game, but the
Badgers remained within reach. Nixyaawii led
16-7 midway through the first and ended the
first quarter up 16-10.
The Golden Eagles looked strong early in
the second quarter, until the Badgers woke up
and put together a late rally. Powder Valley
scored several baskets just before halftime to
head into the locker rooms trailing 29-26, ig-
niting the crowd. Cole Martin was strong for
Powder Valley offensively in the first half, scor-
ing all 12 of his points in the first two quarters.
Nixyaawii’s Baron Moses had another strong
performance, scoring 11 of his game-high 19
points in the first half.
Nixyaawii and Powder Valley were neck-
and-neck in the third quarter, exchanging
buckets. The Badgers went on a run midway
through the quarter and took a 38-37 lead with
1:55 remaining in the period.
On an open fast break that would have given
Powder Valley a one-point lead with 45 sec-
onds left in the third quarter, tragedy struck
the Badgers. Reece Dixon injured his leg on a
layup attempt and missed the remainder of the
quarter and was limited after returning mid-
way through the fourth quarter.
“It’s a big difference, we need him in the
game,” Kyle Dixon said. “When his knees are
hurting like that, it’s hard to play defense and
it’s hard to get the jump shot going. We’ll re-
cover.”
The Badgers hung within two possessions
for almost the entirety of the fourth quarter,
but the team was unable to overcome the defi-
cit. Nixyaawii’s Dylan Abrahamson was very
efficient in the fourth quarter, scoring eight
points off two field goals and a 4-4 free-throw
performance.
“We just needed to stay focused and work
harder,” Kyle Dixon said. “We did a lot of
things we don’t normally do. We turned the
ball over a lot and our shooting was terrible
tonight.”
The loss was a heartbreaker for Powder Val-
ley, who came into the championship game
10-0 against league opponents and 21-1 on the
season. The win is a major accomplishment
for Nixyaawii, who is 22-6 through the end of
district play.
“We just have to recover,” Kyle Dixon said.
“We have state coming up, we’ll be alright.”
The Badgers are set to face Condon (15-6)
on Feb. 22 in round one of the 1A state tour-
nament.
“Of course they hate losing, but sometimes
it’s good for teams to lose,” Kyle Dixon said. “I
think it will make us work harder.”
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