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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2021)
INSIDE: COMICS, OPINIONS & CLASSIFIEDS B S PORTS THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 2021 WOMEN’S COLLEGE HOOPS Ducks sweep series with Cougs EUGENE — Sedona Prince scored 14 points, Taylor Mikesell added 11 — including four free throws in the closing seconds — and No. 13 Oregon beat Washing- ton State 58-50 on Friday night. Washington State’s Cherilyn Molina hit a 3-pointer to tied it at 44 with 4:09 to play, but Te- Hina Paopao answered with a layup 19 seconds later as Oregon scored 10 of the next 12 points to take an eight-point lead with 27 seconds re- maining. WSU missed seven straight shots over than span and the Ducks made 10 of 12 from the free-throw line in the final three minutes. Charlisse Leger-Walker led Washington State (7-4, 5-4 Pac-12) with 24 points, eight rebounds and three steals. She went into the game No. 2 among freshmen nation- ally in scoring (19.7 per game) and leads the Pac- 12 in steals (3.0). No fresh- man has ever finished the season as the conference’s leading scorer. Krystal Leger-Walker hit a 3-pointer to spark a 12-0 run that made it 12-2 with 1:28 left in the first quarter. Washington State didn’t trail again un- til Angela Dugalic made a layup to give the Ducks a 40-38 lead with 9:33 left in the game. The Cougars, who led for nearly 28 minutes on Friday, led for 31 minutes in a 69-65 loss to Oregon (10-3, 8-3) on Dec. 21. Oregon’s Nyara Sabally left the game early in the fourth quarter with an apparent left ankle in- jury but returned, with a noticeable limp, midway through the period. The 6-foot-5 redshirt sopho- more, and the younger sister of Satou — the No. 2 pick in the 2020 WNBA draft out of Oregon — sat out each of the last two seasons due to ACL inju- ries to her right knee. — Associated Press bendbulletin.com/sports MLB | IN MEMORIAM One-time home-run king Hank Aaron dies at 86 BY PAUL NEWBERRY AP National Writer Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP file Hank Aaron looks at his statue at SunTrust Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, after the unveiling ceremony in Atlanta in 2017. See Aaron / B3 New DC is exactly what the Ducks need Wait and see for PPP BY JOHN CANZANO The Oregonian Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin file photos Kayakers paddle up the Deschutes River while competing in the paddle portion of the 42nd Pole Pedal Paddle race in Bend in May 2018. After getting canceled in 2020, Pole Pedal Paddle race still uncertain for this year Tim DeRuyter is not per- fect. Let’s get that out of the way right up front. Super personable and smart guy by all ac- INSIDE counts. Outstand- • 4 things to ing defen- know about Ducks’ new sive co- DC Tim ordinator DeRuyter, B3 with an at- tacking 3-4 scheme that gives offenses fits. But when DeRuyter was a head coach at Fresno State he misfired badly when he recruited a kid from Texas over a Fresno County native named Josh Allen. Allen went to Wyoming. DeRuyter went 30-30. See Ducks / B3 BY MARK MORICAL The Bulletin Beavs reschedule postponed games T — The Oregonian with Ruth or Ali or Jordan. Before a sellout crowd at At- lanta Stadium and a national television audience, Aaron broke Ruth’s home run record with No. 715 off Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Hall of Famer finished his career with 755, a total sur- passed by Barry Bonds in 2007 — though many continued to call the Hammer the true home-run king because of alle- gations that Bonds used perfor- mance-enhancing drugs. Bonds finished his tarnished career with 762, though Aaron never begrudged someone eclipsing his mark. COLLEGE FOOTBALL COMMENTARY Local Sports MEN’S COLLEGE HOOPS Oregon State’s post- poned men’s basketball games at Utah and Colo- rado due to a COVID-19 outbreak have new dates, the school announced Friday. The Beavers (7-5, 3-3 Pac-12) play Colorado on Monday, Feb. 8, at 4 p.m. in Boulder, a game tele- vised on the Pac-12 Net- work. Two weeks later, OSU plays at Utah on Monday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m. ESPN2 will televise the game. The games were previ- ously scheduled as a two- game road trip for Oregon State, with stops at Utah on Jan. 6 and Colorado on Jan. 9. The Beavers were unable to play as their program was paused due to a COVID-19 positive test and contact tracing. Both games are sched- uled at the outset of a road trip. OSU plays Utah before heading to Tuc- son play Arizona (Feb. 11) and Arizona State (Feb. 14). The Colorado game is played before the Bay Area road swing, when the Beavers play at Califor- nia (Feb. 25) and Stanford (Feb. 27). Utah presents a unique situation in that the Bea- vers face the Utes twice in a five-day period. OSU plays host to Utah on Feb. 18 in Corvallis. ATLANTA — Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home run record and gracefully left his mark as one of baseball’s greatest all- around players, died Friday. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves, Aaron’s longtime team, said he died peacefully in his sleep. No cause was given. Aaron made his last pub- lic appearance just 2½ weeks ago, when he received the COVID-19 vaccine. He said he wanted to help spread the to Black Americans that the vac- cine was safe. “Hammerin’ Hank” set a wide array of career hitting re- cords during a 23-year career spent mostly with the Milwau- kee and Atlanta Braves, includ- ing RBIs, extra-base hits and total bases. But the Hall of Famer will be remembered for one swing above all others, the one that made him baseball’s home-run king. It was a title he would be hold for more than 33 years, a period in which the Hammer slowly but surely claimed his right- ful place as one of America’s most iconic sporting figures, a true national treasure worthy of mention in the same breath he Pole Pedal Paddle has MIXED MARTIAL ARTS | UFC 257 been a Central Oregon tradition since 1977, McGregor returns with dreams intact but last year the region’s signature sporting event did not take place for the first time in more than 40 years. BY GREG BEACHAM Associated Press Organizers for the PPP hope Normally we have between 2,000 to 3,200 participants. I don’t know what we would limit it to, but it would be smaller numbers for sure.” Racers who pre-registered for the PPP last year had the option of rolling over their entry fee to 2021 or donating their entry fee to MBSEF, according to Kelley. She said about 300 people rolled over their entry fees and they would automat- ically be entered into the 2021 event if it is staged. “We would open up registration to others, too, but not sure how many,” she said. “We wouldn’t have a celebration at the finish in the Old Mill. We really don’t want spectators. We would just have a good, well-organized, timed race.” The PPP stages include an alpine ski down an intermediate run at Mt. Bach- elor ski area, an 8-kilometer nordic ski, a 22-mile bike ride from Bachelor to Bend, a 5-mile run along the Deschutes River, a 1.5-mile paddle on the river and a finishing run of less than a mile. Conor McGregor had ambitious plans for 2020. Like most everybody’s big plans last year, they were ruined by the coronavirus pandemic. Now safely inside the UFC’s Fight Island bub- ble, the most popular man in combat sports is getting back to work on accom- plishing everything he set out to do when he reded- icated himself to fighting over a year ago. “I feel like I’m only start- ing, man,” the 32-year-old McGregor said this week. “Everyone wants to say, ‘Hey, Conor, you’ve done it all! You’re so rich! You’re richer than Dana! What are you doing here?’ I want to be here. I want to perform for the fans.” McGregor (22-4) returns at UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi on Sunday for a rematch with Dustin Poirier, a fellow power puncher with a flair for dramatic finishes. See PPP / B2 See MMA / B3 the event can return for its 44th edition on May 15, but it is still too early to know if it can be staged in a safe manner due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The PPP includes teams, pairs and individuals racing in alpine skiing, nordic skiing, road cycling, running, paddling and sprinting along a course from Mount Bachelor to Bend. The event has drawn more than 3,000 participants some years — more than half of whom come from outside Central Oregon — and hundreds more spectators. Participants scramble to quickly get in their boats while competing in the 43rd annual Pole Pedal Paddle in May 2019. The PPP is the biggest fundraiser for the Bend-based Mt. Bachelor Sports Ed- ucation Foundation (MBSEF), a non- profit that serves more than 600 youth athletes in competitive alpine and nordic skiing, freeride skiing, freeride snow- boarding and cycling. “We would be so thrilled if we could have the event but obviously we’re in a total holding pattern,” said Molly Cog- swell-Kelley, events director for MBSEF. “We’re getting really good at just being patient and waiting for things to start looking better, as far as COVID. We want to be responsible and safe for our community.” Cogswell-Kelley added that it might be as late as mid-April before MBSEF makes a decision on whether to hold the event. Organizers would only need a few weeks of preparation, she said. “We could, at the last minute, pull off a race,” Cogswell-Kelley said. “That’s what I’m hoping. If we did, it would be scaled back. We’d limit participation. We would have a streamlined event.