FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A7
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2021
PAC-12 MEN’S
BASKETBALL
2 Ducks, 1 Beaver
make first team
EUGENE — Oregon’s
Chris Duarte and Eugene
Omoruyi were named
first team all-Pac-12 by
the league’s coaches on
Tuesday.
The senior duo, who
led the Ducks to the Pac-
12 regular season cham-
pionship, were two of the
10 first-team honorees
and 15 overall named on
Tuesday. Duarte was also
named to the all-defen-
sive team.
Duarte leads UO and is
fifth in the Pac-12 in scor-
ing (17.3 points per game)
and leads the conference
with 2.5 three-pointers
per game and ranks 10th
nationally in three-point
field goal percentage
(44%). The Puerto Plata,
Dominican Republic, na-
tive is one of just three
players nationally aver-
aging 17.0 points and 1.8
steals per game while
shooting 50% from the
field and is the only ma-
jor conference player to
do so.
Omoruyi averaged 16.9
points, 5.3 rebounds and
2.1 assists.
Oregon coach Dana
Altman felt Duarte should
win Pac-12 Player of the
Year and Omoruyi was
also an all-conference
performer.
“(Duarte)’s been the
one guy, he and Eugene,
that have been there ev-
ery night,” Altman said. “I
think they’re both all-con-
ference players. … There’s
a lot of good players in
the league and I don’t
want to take anything
away from them but I am
bias because I’ve worked
with Chris every day and
I know how much he
meant to our team.”
Oregon State guard
Ethan Thompson also
earned first-team honors
on the Pac-12’s all-con-
ference men’s basketball
team.
The 6-foot-5 senior has
started 120 games during
his career, tying Gary Pay-
ton for most starts in Ore-
gon State history.
Also earning mention
on the all-conference
team is junior forward
Warith Alatishe, who was
among three honorable
mention selection on the
all-defensive team.
Oregon State has had
at least one player on the
first-team all-conference
team four of the past five
years.
Thompson leads the
Beavers in scoring this
season at 15.5 points a
game. He was OSU’s lead-
ing scorer in 15 of the
team’s 26 games. Thomp-
son also led Oregon State
in assists and steals.
Thompson, who
scored a career-high 31
points against Portland in
December, ranks eighth
in OSU career scoring. He’s
among the school’s top 10
in career three-pointers,
free throws, assists and
minutes played.
Alatishe, a 6-7 transfer
from Murray State, leads
Oregon State in rebound-
ing at 8.4 per game, and
blocked shots at 1.5 per
game.
USC forward Evan
Mobley swept the con-
ference’s top honors,
winning Pac-12 player of
the year, freshman of the
year and defensive player
of the year. USC’s Andy
Enfield was coach of the
year.
Oregon State returns
to action Thursday at
2:30 p.m. when the Bea-
vers play UCLA in a Pac-12
tournament quarterfinal
game in Las Vegas. Ore-
gon will play the winner
of Washington State and
Arizona State at 11:30 a.m.
on Thursday.
— The Oregonian
bendbulletin.com/sports
PREP SPORTS
New risk tiers a boon for Central Oregon teams
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
The Bulletin
T
he wait for Madras and
Culver volleyball is fi-
nally over.
Tuesday it was announced
that Jefferson County moved
from the extreme risk tier
down to the high risk tier.
Meaning, the two volleyball
programs can hold full-team
practices and begin competing
against other schools.
“This is huge — I am just so
happy for the girls,” said Ma-
dras athletic director Mark
Stewart. “So many of the girls
were still coming (to practices)
“This is huge — I am just so
happy for the girls. So many
of the girls were still coming
(to practices) and stuck it
out. I am excited that they
are going to be rewarded for
their perseverance.”
and stuck it out. I am excited
that they are going to be re-
warded for their perseverance.”
Under the extreme risk
guidelines, volleyball teams
were only allowed to have six
athletes at a time for 45 min-
utes. Now in high risk, nor-
mal volleyball activities can
resume.
“Not totally back to normal,”
said Culver athletic director
Shea Little. “But we are coming
back. We are going to keep the
remaining schedule, but now
we can add some more games.”
Much like the Crook County
volleyball team experienced
— Mark Stewart,
Madras athletic director
two weeks ago, it is a fast turn-
around to return to contests.
Madras and Culver can be-
gin practicing fully as a team
on Friday, then start playing
matches against other teams
on Tuesday, March 16. Ma-
dras is scheduled to host North
Marion in its opener while
Culver is on the road against
Sheridan.
Two weeks behind the ma-
jority of Oregon volleyball
teams that began the first week
of March, Madras will attempt
to get the most out of its sea-
son, even though it is unlikely
to play a full 11-game schedule.
“We will try and pick a few
extra if we can,” Stewart said.
“We will get five and six in. But
we are hoping for eight or nine
if we can fill in some slots.”
While schools in Deschutes
and Crook counties have been
able to start their competitions
on time, moving to the moder-
ate risk tier on Tuesday brings
benefits for those schools as
well.
The outdoor maximum ca-
pacity rises from 120 to 150
for football and increases
from 75 to 150 for soccer and
cross-country.
The indoor capacity doubles
from 25% capacity or 50 peo-
ple to 50% capacity or 100 peo-
ple — whichever is smaller.
See Prep sports / A8
GOLF
A pandemic
and a plan
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan is ready for golf to keep
moving ahead a year after COVID-19 shut down the sport
Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP file
Kevin Kisner tees off on the 13th hole during the final round of the Workday Championship in Bradenton, Florida, on Feb. 28. Kisner is among four players on the PGA Tour board
who had to work through a plan for golf’s comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic.
BY DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. —
P
GA Tour Commissioner Jay
Monahan keeps the screenshot
his daughters sent him as a tease
one year ago. Now it’s a reminder of how
quickly celebration gave way to concern and
uncertainty in a week like no other.
The photo is Monahan being interviewed by
CNBC on Monday of The Players Championship to
announce the tour’s new multi-billion dollar media
rights deal, while the ticker on the bottom of the TV
shows stock prices in the biggest free fall since the
2008 recession.
The cause was Saudi Arabia slashing oil prices
amid anxiety over the spread of the new coronavi-
rus.
“Being in a business news environment, it was
overwhelming the morning, and here we are an-
nouncing our longtime media partnerships,” Mona-
han said. “So it was this juxtaposition of an incredi-
bly exciting, momentous day for our players coupled
with, ‘Wow, we have something on the precipice of
affecting what we’re going to be able to do.’”
It didn’t take long to go over the edge.
By Wednesday of that week, the World Health
Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The
next day, in rapid succession, the tour went from
saying there would be no fans at TPC Sawgrass the
rest of the week, to no fans at any PGA Tour event
for the next month, and finally that there would be
no tournaments at all.
No other sport has a longer season than golf.
“We play virtually every week. We don’t shut
down,” Monahan said. “I was telling everyone that
we canceled The Players and hope to return soon.
And I had no idea what that was. That amount of
uncertainty about when we’ll play again is not some-
thing I’ve ever experienced. Nor have our players.”
See Golf / A9
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL | PAC-12 TOURNAMENT
Oregon overcomes setbacks to earn top seed;
improving Oregon State enters as 5th seed
BY JOHN MARSHALL
AP Basketball Writer
LAS VEGAS — Oregon
had to battle through two
COVID-19 pauses, injuries to
two of its best players and a
long stretch of inactivity.
Once the Ducks got rolling,
it was tough for any team to
stop them.
Oregon closed a difficult
season with a flourish, winning
its final five games to earn a
second straight Pac-12 regu-
lar-season championship. The
Ducks now head to T-Mobile
Arena in Las Vegas as the No.
1 seed in the Pac-12 Tourna-
ment.
“You know the guys have
been through a lot, but they
“You know the guys have
been through a lot, but they
really came together.”
— Dana Altman, Oregon men’s
basketball coach
really came together,” Oregon
coach Dana Altman said.
Oregon was picked to fin-
ish third in the Pac-12 and got
the season off to a solid start,
winning eight of its first nine
games despite playing without
point guard Will Richardson
due to thumb surgery.
The COVID-19 issues hit
not long after that and the
Ducks played one game in a
span of three weeks, a loss to
rival Oregon State. Richard-
son returned against Washing-
ton State on Feb. 3, but lead-
ing scorer Chris Duarte went
down with an ankle injury and
missed two games.
The Ducks beat Washington
without Duarte and went on a
run when he returned, winning
10 of their final 11 games. An
80-67 win over Oregon State
on Sunday put them a half-
game ahead of Southern Cali-
fornia to win the Pac-12 title.
“This isn’t the only goal we
had; this is part of the journey,”
forward Eugene Omoruyi said.
“We have our next goal now.
Just keep cranking out goals,
one at a time.”
See Pac-12 / A8
Ashley Landis/AP file
Oregon’s Will Richardson (0) drives to the basket for a layup against
Southern California’s Drew Peterson during a Pac-12 game last month
in Los Angeles.