BAKER CITY HERALD • TuEsDAY, MARCH 15, 2022 A7
SPORTS
Baker 7th grade hoops team 2nd at state
Central Oregon, Baker opened
Friday, March 11, against a dif-
ferent Happy Valley team. After
trailing 27-23 at halftime, Baker
rallied in the second half to win
Baker City Herald
67-46, at Crook County High
A team of seventh grade boys
School in Prineville.
from Baker Middle School fin-
“A great second half,” Baker
ished second at the state basket-
head coach Colt Nudd said.
ball tournament in Central Ore-
In the second round on Satur-
gon last weekend.
day, March 12, Baker led the en-
The Baker Black team finished tire game in beating Tigard 62-28
the invitation-only tournament
at Elton Gregory Middle School
with a 4-1 record, losing 43-36
in Redmond.
to Happy Valley of Clackamas in
On Saturday evening, Baker
the championship game on Sun- beat Trinity Lutheran of Bend
day, March 13, at Ridgeview High 64-59 to advance to the semifi-
School in Redmond.
nal round on Sunday morning,
Baker qualified for the tourna- March 13, at Crook County Mid-
ment by finishing second at The
dle School.
Dalles Winter Classic in February.
The semifinal game against
At the state tournament, which Tualatin, at Crook County High
School, was a thriller.
was played at several gyms in
Team wins
4 of 5 games
Baker’s Gavin Scott made a
3-pointer from NBA range with
5 seconds left to give Baker a 38-
37 win.
The championship game was
close but Baker ended up placing
second.
“I’ve had these boys together
for the last four seasons,” Nudd
said. “We travel quite a bit every
year to tournaments around the
Northwest.”
Other team members are: Kane
Hellberg, Ezaiah Suarez, Tristan
Klecker (unable to attend the
state tournament), Jake Chris-
tensen, Jace Whitford, Brayden
Whitebread, Quin Wellman,
Ryder Nimmo, Gabe Schwartz,
Hayden Churchfield, Ben Nudd,
Colton Shank.
Coaches are Nudd and assistant
coach Mitch Osborn.
Laurel Nimmo/Contributed Photo
The Baker Black seventh grade basketball team finished second at the Oregon Middle School
state tournament March 11-13 in Central Oregon. Front row, left to right: Colton Shank, Jace
Whitford, Kane Hellberg, Gavin Scott, Ezaiah Suarez, Jake Christensen, Gabe Schwartz. Top
row, left to right: assistant coach Mitch Osborn, Hayden Churchfield, Benjamin Nudd, Ryder
Nimmo, Quin Wellman, head coach Colt Nudd, Brayden Whitebread.
OREGON MEN’S BASKETBALL
Ducks to play Utah State in NIT
Glen Smith Spectrum on
Tuesday, March 15 at 6 p.m.
EUGENE — The Oregon
in Logan, Utah. The game
Ducks are headed to the men’s
will be televised on ESPN.
National Invitation Tournament.
The winner will face the
Oregon (19-14) will play
winner of No. 1 seed Texas
at No. 4 seed Utah State (18- A&M and Alcorn State in the
15) in the first round at Dee second round.
It will be the sixth meeting
between the teams and first
since 1965. Oregon leads the
all-time series 3-2.
The last time Utah State
hosted a Power Five opponent
in the Spectrum was during the
2013-14 season, when it defeated
BY JAMES CREPEA
oregonlive.com
Mississippi State, and it also last
hosted a Pac-12 team that same
season in a win over USC.
Oregon is 14-12 all-time in
the NIT, last appearing in 2018,
and has reached the NIT Final
Four in New York three times:
1975, 1999 and 2004.
Utah State last appeared in
the NIT in 2008 and will be
hosting an NIT game for the
first time since 2004 and fifth
time in school history, with
an 0-4 record in those prior
home games. USU’s last win
in the NIT was in 1960.
OREGON WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Oregon Ducks 5th seed in women’s NCAA tourney
BY JAMES CREPEA
oregonlive.com
EUGENE — The Oregon
Ducks are a No. 5 seed in the
women’s NCAA Tournament.
Oregon (20-11) is the No.
5 seed in the Wichita regional
and will open against No.
12 seed Belmont (22-7) in
the first round of the NCAA
Tournament on Saturday,
March 19, at Thompson-Bol-
ing Arena in Knoxville, Tenn.
It’s the first ever meeting
of the Ducks and Bruins,
who won the Ohio Valley
conference tournament reg-
ular season and conference
tournament titles.
“I’ve been doing this for a
long time and even though
we’ve known we were going to
be in the tournament there’s
always something magical
about seeing your name come
up,” said head coach Kelly
Graves. “We’re thrilled that
we have a chance to compete
in the NCAA Tournament.
... We’re excited to be playing
and we hope to go down and
compete and play our best.”
If Oregon wins, it will
face the winner of the No.
4 seed Tennessee and 13th-
seeded Buffalo on Monday.
Louisville is the top seed in
the region. UO’s only prior
trip to Knoxville was against
the Lady Vols in the second
round of the 1997 NCAA
Tournament.
Graves coached a game
at Thompson-Boling Arena
once before when he was at
Gonzaga.
“We’re going to what re-
ally could be the home of
women’s basketball,” Graves
said. “I told (the players) that
when they were little girls
the college women’s basket-
ball world revolved around
Knoxville. That was the pro-
gram. It’s the home of the
women’s basketball Hall of
Fame; we’ll make sure that
we have a chance to go there.
“I am certainly famil-
iar with the fact that before
UConn made their ascension,
Tennessee, the Lady Vols,
were the standard by which
every program was judged.
They’re still to this day the
most storied program. Kellie
Harper has come back and
really revived the program
and they’re certainly formida-
ble. But we’re not even think-
ing Lady Vols, we’re thinking
all about Belmont Bruins and
they’re going to give us every-
thing we can handle. That’s
going to be a heck of a game.”
Oregon, which is 17-16
all-time in the NCAA Tour-
nament, was a No. 6 seed and
made it to the Sweet 16 of last
year’s NCAA Tournament.
BMS
wrestlers
12th at
state
Baker City Herald
The Baker Middle School
wrestling team placed 12th
out of 127 teams at the state
tournament March 11-12 in
Woodburn.
Eight Baker wrestlers quali-
fied: Madi Myer, Neva Lunch,
Taryn Niday, Daniel Maldo-
nado, Clay Stevens, Connor
Norton, Xander Rexroad and
Henry Hester.
At the state tournament,
Myer and Hester finished
fourth, Stevens was fifth and
Niday placed sixth.
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