INSIDE: COMICS, OPINIONS & CLASSIFIEDS
B
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • SaTUrday, JUNE 12, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
LOCAL GOLF
Bend golfer wins
PNGA tournament
Walla Walla, WASH. —
Bend’s Rosie Cook won
the 34th Pacific North-
west Golf Association Se-
nior Women’s Amateur,
held Tuesday through
Thursday at Wine Valley
Golf Club.
The tournament was a
54-hole stroke-play com-
petition.
In very windy condi-
tions, Cook shot a 2-over-
par 74 in Thursday’s final
round, which included
shooting 2-under-par on
the back nine. She cruised
to a fairly easy win, with
second-place finisher Lisa
Smego, of Oro Valley, Ar-
izona, coming in at nine
shots back.
Cook is a mainstay in
OGA championships, and
has been selected several
times to represent Ore-
gon in the PNGA Lamey
Cup and the former USGA
Women’s State Team
event. This is her first
PNGA title.
“My first thought is
to play my own game,”
Cook said after her round.
“I don’t think about win-
ning. I try to think about
enjoying the day, and
enjoying the round. I
did struggle on the front
nine, so I just tried to fo-
cus on my putting, which
is a stronger part of my
game. So, I just tried to
hit greens, make it close,
and go from there. I was
a little nervous, so it was
great to get out there and
meet other players; it’s
good to know them, and
learn from them.”
Redmond’s Michael
Jackson finished tied for
second in the 56th PNGA
Senior Men’s Amateur,
also a a three-day, 54-
hole stroke-play com-
petition at Wine Valley.
PNGA Hall of Famer Tom
Brandes, of Bellevue,
Wash., won the tourna-
ment, shooting all three
rounds under par (71-69-
70), the only player in the
field to do so. He finished
six shots clear of sec-
ond-place Jackson and
Erik Hanson, of Kirkland,
Wash.
— Bulletin staff report
NBA
‘Melo a finalist for
social justice award
Portland Trail Blazers
star Carmelo Anthony is
among the five finalists for
the inaugural Kareem Ab-
dul-Jabbar Social Justice
Champion award, the NBA
announced Friday.
The award, named after
NBA Hall of Famer Kareen
Abdul-Jabbar, is given to
the player who best em-
bodies his message of civil
rights, Black empower-
ment and racial equality.
Anthony is nominated
for the award alongside
Sacramento Kings’ Har-
rison Barnes, Milwaukee
Bucks’ Jrue Holiday, Phila-
delphia 76ers’ Tobias Harris
and Golden State Warriors’
Juan Toscano-Anderson.
The five finalists were
cut down from an original
list of 30 nominees —
one from each NBA team.
They’re in consideration
for a $100,000 award that
the league will donate to
a social-justice-focused
organization of the win-
ner’s choosing. The four re-
maining finalists will each
receive $25,000 donations.
Anthony’s efforts con-
tributing to social justice
are through the Social
Change Fund he and
Phoenix Suns guard Chris
Paul and former NBA
Dwyane Wade created in
July 2020.
The winner of the
award will be announced
before Game 4 of the
Eastern Conference finals
on TNT.
— The Oregonian
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Putting the Cowboys on the map
Kevin Sanchez, senior class
enjoying historic 2-year run
for Crook County
BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin
R
EDMOND — Kevin
Sanchez recalls telling
his older brother two
years ago that by his junior year,
Crook County would be playing
in the Class 5A state basketball
tournament.
The elder Sanchez brother
certainly had his doubts. Crook
County was known for wrestling,
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
not basketball.
Crook County’s Kevin Sanchez (23) drives past Redmond’s Skyler Jones (4) to score Thursday night in Redmond.
“He said we were going to finish
fourth or fifth place in the confer-
ence,” Sanchez recalled.
But the Cowboys made the leap
from a middling Class 5A team in the
2018-19 season into one of the classi-
fication’s top squads in one year.
Crook County won the Intermoun-
tain Conference and reached its first
ever state tournament, and Sanchez
was named the Most Valuable Player
of the IMC. The team advanced to
the state fourth-place game in March
2020 before the remainder of the
tournament was canceled due to
COVID-19.
“We knew that if we kept working and kept getting better then something
good would happen. And it’s happened. I’ve always known deep down
that we were going to do something special.”
— Cayden Lowenbach, Crook County senior boys basketball player
Now a senior, Sanchez and the
Cowboys are looking toward a possi-
ble undefeated regular season heading
into the final week.
“This is all crazy,” Sanchez said.
The two-year run the Cowboys are
on has not come as a surprise to those
within the program.
“I knew what I was stepping into
last year and how good we could be,”
said second-year Crook County coach
Jason Mumm. “And I knew we would
be just as good if not better this year.”
Even coming off a 1-7 IMC campaign
in 2018-19, there was a belief that the
program could dramatically improve.
“We knew that if we kept working
and kept getting better then some-
thing good would happen,” said se-
nior double-double machine Cayden
Lowenbach. “And it’s happened. I’ve
always known deep down that we
were going to do something special.”
Whether from unwavering confi-
dence or teenage naivety, or perhaps
a combination of both, the seed that
Crook County could become a great
team on the hardwood was planted
before this year’s senior class even
stepped foot in the hallways of Crook
County High.
See Cowboys / B2
TENNIS | FRENCH OPEN
Djokovic hands Nadal 3rd loss in 108 matches
at clay-court major; will face Tsitsipas in final
BY SAMUEL PETREQUIN
Associated Press
PARIS — Sprinting, sliding
and stretching, anticipating
each other’s moves for four sets
and more than four hours, No-
vak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal
produced a masterpiece in the
French Open semifinals.
Djokovic, as it happens, is
one of only two men in ten-
nis history who knows what it
takes to beat Nadal at Roland
Garros. And now Djokovic
has done it twice — this time
ending Nadal’s bid for a 14th
championship there and re-
cord-breaking 21st Grand
Slam title overall by coming
back to win their 58th career
matchup 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2
on Friday night.
“Just one of these nights
and matches that you will re-
member forever,” said the top-
seeded Djokovic, who trailed
2-0 in the closing set before
getting in a big-time groove
and reeling off the last half-
dozen games to reach his sixth
final at the clay-court major
tournament.
See French Open / B2
Christophe Ena/AP
Novak Djokovic stretches to return the ball to Rafael Nadal during their
semifinal match of the French Open on Friday in Paris.
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Adesanya puts UFC belt on the line in rematch with Vettori
BY JOHN MARSHALL
Associated Press
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Mar-
vin Vettori walked to the cen-
ter of the octagon expecting to
have his arm raised. It wasn’t.
Israel Adesanya won the
fight in a split decision, yet
wasn’t satisfied. The fight was
far closer than he expected.
The two middleweights had
since been hoping for a re-
match and will get it Saturday
night at UFC 263, back in the
desert three years later.
This time, Adesanya’s cham-
pionship belt will be on the line.
“I’m here to get revenge
from that first fight, whatever
it was, and become the first
Italian UFC champion,” Vettori
said during a heated news con-
ference this week.
Adesanya (20-1) and Vettori
(17-4-1) won’t be the only re-
match with a title on the line at
Gila River Arena.
Flyweight champion
Deiveson Figueiredo will put
L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, file
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya of Nigeria, kicks chal-
lenger Yoel Romero of Cuba during UFC 248 in Las Vegas in 2020.
his belt on the line against No.
1 contender Brandon Moreno
in a rematch of a draw at UFC
256 in December. The main
card also will include No. 3
welterweight Leon Edwards
against fan favorite Nate Diaz,
welterweights Demian Maia
against Belal Muhammad, and
light heavyweights Paul Craig
and Jamahal Hill.
Adesanya and Vettori last
fought in 2018 in a non-title
fight in Glendale. Adesanya
was considered an up-and-
comer in the division but had
his hands full with the heavy-
handed Vettori.
Known as a puncher, Vettori
surprised Adesanya with his
wrestling adeptness, muscling
him around the mat when he
took the Nigerian freestyle
fighter down.
Adesanya did most of his
work, as he usually does, with
agility, kicks and strikes to win
the split decision.
Adesanya won the interim
middleweight title with a
unanimous decision over Kel-
vin Gastelum and took the title
unification bout with a sec-
ond-round knockout of Robert
Whittaker in late 2019.
Now Adesanya gets another
shot at Vettori.
“This time we won’t need the
judges,” Adesanya said in front
of a rowdy crowd at Thursday’s
news conference.
The second title fight figures
to be just as testy.
Figueiredo (20-1-1) and
Moreno (18-5-2) have plenty of
animosity between them, exac-
erbated by a draw at UFC 256
in Las Vegas that left neither
fighter feeling satisfied.
The two flyweights have
traded barbs leading into Sat-
urday’s co-main event.
“He talks a lot and I’m go-
ing to shut him up by knock-
ing him out in the first round,”
Figueiredo said.
Diaz (21-12) had plenty
of support, particularly from
Mexican-American fans, at the
news conference, but Edwards
is the favorite among odds-
makers.
Edwards (18-3-0) has won
eight straight matches since
losing by decision to current
champion Kamaru Usman and
is looking to build his resume
against Diaz to hopefully earn
a shot at the title.
“Nate Diaz has this repu-
tation and all of the hype and
that’s actually good for me,” he
said. “Everybody will be watch-
ing and when I do what I do,
people are going to want me to
be the one (to get a title shot).”