A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP | OREGON STATE 70, COLORADO 68
‘INCREDIBLE’
RUN
Oregon State’s
Jarod Lucas
celebrates with
teammates
after defeating
Colorado in the
championship
game of the Pac-12
men’s tournament
Saturday in
Las Vegas.
John Locher/AP
Oregon State looking
for more as emotions
run deep following
historic victory
BY NICK DASCHEL • The Oregonian
I
t was apparent when Oregon State coach
Wayne Tinkle sat down Saturday night
to start his press conference, champi-
onship net around his neck, he was working
overtime to keep it together emotionally.
It was season that had myriad hairpin
turns. One that threatened to get mothballed
because of the pandemic. Early gut-punch
losses to big underdogs. Shut down for 10
days due to a COVID-19 pause. More painful
losses, but eventually growth, maturity and a
winning team that was easy to get behind.
In the end, Tinkle was driving a be-
yond-capacity bandwagon to the finish line
of the Beavers’ first-ever Pac-12 tournament
championship, clinched Saturday night in
Las Vegas with a 70-68 win over Colorado.
PREP FOOTBALL
Rushing
explodes in
Mountain View
comeback
The prize was a trophy and an NCAA tour-
nament berth, OSU’s second in five years.
“The messages I’ve been getting, the shot
in the arm that this has been for a lot of peo-
ple that have been suffering, watching the
Beavers go on this run. It provided some
incredible, call it therapy, happiness, you
name it,” Tinkle said.
See Championship / A6
March Madness
BRACKETS ARE BACK
DUCKS | NO. 7 SEED
The Oregon Ducks (20-6) will
open against No. 10 seed VCU (19-
7) in the first round of the West re-
gion in the NCAA Tournament on
Saturday in Indianapolis.
If Oregon wins, it will face the
winner of the No. 2 seed Iowa (21-
8) and No. 15 seed Grand Canyon
(17-6) on Monday.
The Ducks enter the Big Dance
with 11 wins in 13 games and as
back-to-back Pac-12 regular sea-
son champions, though they lost to
eventual Pac-12 tournament cham-
pion Oregon State in the semifinals
of the conference tournament.
The Ducks are 25-15 all-time in
the NCAA Tournament in 16 prior
appearances, not counting qualify-
ing for last year’s tournament that
was canceled due to the pandemic.
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
The Bulletin
Falling behind 13-0 in the first quarter against
Aloha at Saturday’s football game motivated
Mountain View to push harder.
The Cougars racked up nearly 600 yards of of-
fense and outscored the Warriors 55-14 to win
their second game of the season.
Mountain View coach Brian Crum said there
was no panic from the coaches or players once
his team was in a two-score hole, and credited
his team’s maturing for how it responded.
“One thing that the pandemic teaches us is to
be flexible,” Crum said.
Senior running back Luke Roberts and ju-
nior running back Sayre Williamson provided
a “thunder and lightning” rushing attack for the
Cougars. Roberts ran for a bruising 234 yards
and five touchdowns on 26 carries while Wil-
liamson gashed the Warriors defense for 15
yards, a carry en route to 229 yards and a score.
“I think that changed of pace helped us a lot
— he lit a fire under us,” said Crum. “Got to give
credit to the offensive line. They were pushing
(Aloha’s defensive line) four to five yards down-
field every play.”
Roberts ran touchdowns came from seven,
two, five, one and 17 yards out. Williamson
scored on a 44-yard run, while junior quarter-
back Jakoby Moss tossed in two touchdown
passes, one to James Tiboni and another to Jake
Hatch.
Aloha did lose its quarterback in the first half,
but after giving up 13 points in the first quarter, the
Cougars only gave up two scores during the final
three quarters and kept the vaunted Warrior pass-
ing attack in check while forcing four turnovers.
“Our defensive backs have been playing better
than in years past,” Crum said. “I was happy and
impressed with what our players and staff did on
defense.”
With two wins in as many games, Mountain
View will play its first home game of the year
when it faces rival Bend High on Friday night.
ý
Reporter: 541-383-0307, brathbone@bendbulletin.com
David Becker/AP
Gonzaga guard Andrew Nembhard (3) and forward Drew Timme (2) celebrate after they beat BYU for the West
Coast Conference tournament championship Tuesday in Las Vegas. Gonzaga is the No. 1 overall seed in the 2021
NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
BY EDDIE PELLS • AP National Writer
T
he biggest unknown leading into a March
Madness bracket reveal more than a year
in the making had little to do with bub-
ble teams or top seeds. Instead, it was the
not-so-simple matter of which programs would be
healthy enough to play.
Kansas and Virginia, two programs hit with
COVID-19 breakouts over the past week, made it
into the bracket released Sunday by the NCAA se-
lection committee, signaling both teams believe
they’ll have enough healthy players to be ready for
their tip-offs next weekend.
That there was any doubt about the Jayhawks and
defending champion Cavaliers securing spots in the
68-team tournament was the most jarring reminder
that the 2021 tournament itself is no sure thing.
“There were a lot of different things about this
year’s selection process,” said committee chairman
Mitch Barnhart, the athletic director at Kentucky.
BEAVERS | NO. 12 SEED
A year after the tournament was canceled as the
coronavirus was mushrooming into a pandemic, all
68 teams will gather in Indiana for all 67 games be-
ginning Thursday and ending April 3 and 5 with the
Final Four. But all it takes is a single outbreak to up-
end the finely calibrated beauty of that plan. More
than one and the entire endeavor could crater.
There were no surprises among the four No. 1
seeds. Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois and Michigan earned
those slots – with the Bulldogs the 11-4 favorite to
win it all and become the first team since the 1976
Indiana Hoosiers to finish a season undefeated.
The last teams to earn the 37 at-large bids — one
more than usual because the Ivy League canceled
play this year — were Drake and Wichita State,
which play Thursday in a First Four game, and
UCLA and Michigan State, two decorated pro-
grams with surprisingly low seeds that meet in an-
other play-in game.
The Oregon State Beavers (17-
12) open first round play Friday
against No. 5 seed Tennessee (18-8).
The Beavers earned a berth by
winning the Pac-12 tournament,
beating Colorado 70-68 in Satur-
day’s championship game. OSU
was one of 31 teams to earn an au-
tomatic bid. The Beavers landed in
the Midwest Region, where Illinois
is the top seed. Tennessee lost to
Alabama in Friday’s SEC semifinals.
The Oregon State-Tennessee win-
ner advances to Sunday’s second
round, where they’ll face the Okla-
homa State-Liberty winner.
This is Oregon State’s 18th
NCAA Tournament, but just its
second since 1990. The Beavers’
most recent appearance was 2016,
when as a 7-seed they lost to Vir-
ginia Commonwealth 75-67 in
Oklahoma City.
Oregon State is 12-20 all-time in
NCAA Tournament games.
See Madness / A6
— The Oregonian