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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 2015)
SPORTS SCHEDULE Thursday-Satur- day, Dec. 17-19 WEDNESDAY December 16, 2015 Prairie City, Dayville/ Monument basketball @ Union Tourney in Union, girls and boys TBA GU boys topple Mustangs at home Friday-Saturday, Dec. 18-19 Dayville/Monument Monday, Dec. 21 Grant Union basketball @ Irrigon in Irrigon, girls 6 p.m./boys 7:30 p.m. Long Creek Grant Union basketball @ Heppner in Heppner, girls 4 p.m./ boys 5:30 p.m. Blue Mountain Eagle Grant Union Saturday, Dec. 19 By Angel Carpenter Prairie City Grant Union wrestling @ Elgin Tournament in Elgin, 1 p.m./10 a.m. Pros’ 20-point lead in 3rd seals the deal JOHN DAY — Eight Grant Union Prospector boys got in on Thursday night’s scoring to claim a 56-40 win over the Crane Mustangs. The Prospectors took the lead early on and held it through the game. “I thought we played good fundamental basketball,” said head coach Steve Speth. “We didn’t shoot as well as normal, but we were able to control the game with our defense and ball control.” Grant Union had a 27-18 lead at the half and jumped to a 20-point lead to close the third. A few Prospectors got in on some three-point scoring, in- cluding Wyatt Weaver who led with 19 points and 10 rebounds. He also had four assists. “I’m really excited to be with these guys,” Weaver said. “I think our group is coming to- gether and starting to click early in the season.” Speth credited the Mustangs for a competitive game. “Crane is a strong team, ranked in the top 10,” he said. “It’s a good, solid win for us.” Grant Union will face the TigerScots at the Weston-McE- wen tournament which starts Friday and continues Saturday. The stats Grant Union vs. Crane points/rebounds/assists/steals Wyatt Weaver: 19/10/4/2 Ricky Weickum: 8/4/1/1 Nathan Gehley: 8/11/1/1 Duane Stokes: 8/1/1/1 Trace Gill: 4/4/1/1 Brady Burch: 4/3/1/1 Clayton Vaughan: 3/1/0/0 Zack Deiter: 2/0/1/1 Cauy Weaver: 0/3/2/0 The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Grant Union Prospector Nathan Gehley fights to score against Crane Thursday night. Seasoned Prospectors set expectations high Grant County teams go on the road The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Grant Union Prospector Kaylee Wright flies above Crane defenders to score in Thursday night’s game. GU girls ¿ re up, rein in Mustangs By Angel Carpenter By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle Blue Mountain Eagle CONDON — Grant County basketball teams were on the road for weekend tournaments. Prairie City Panther boys won games against Mo- hawk, 50-35, and McKenzie, 62-20, at the Condon Tour- nament. Head coach Jonathon Gill said Mohawk gave them their ¿ rst test with a close game situation. “I was so proud of the kids coming together as brothers to pull that victory out,” Gill said. The second game gave Gill the opportunity to get everyone in the action. The Lady Panthers had a decisive 58-13 win over a young Mohawk team, and suffered a loss to McKenzie, 39-33. She said the McKenzie game was a good test. “Now we go work on improving our game,” she said. The Dayville/Monument Tiger boys pulled out two wins at the Adrian Tourna- ment with a 59-32 win over Adrian and 74-61 over Coun- cil, Idaho. “Adrian is a tough team,” said head coach Jeff Schafer. “We started off a little slow but picked it up after the half.” The contest against Coun- cil was a “dog ¿ ght,” he said. “Our boys played great team ball.” The Lady Tigers had a 54- 28 loss to Adrian and beat Harper/Huntington 49-38. JOHN DAY — The Grant Union Lady Prospectors took a 60- 48 win at their home court over the Crane Mustangs Thursday night, notching their second preseason victory. The girls amped up their game in the second half to pull away with the 12-point win. While Crane is a 1A class team and Grant Union is 2A, the Mus- tangs were ranked fourth in the pre- season coaches poll. “We started slow and made some adjustments and played much better in the second half,” said Grant Union’s head coach Mark Mosley. At halftime, the Prospectors had a 27-20 lead and increased it to 46- 29 in the third. Kaylee Wright, Kori Pentzer and Heather Mosley had three steals each on the night, and Sa- mantha Brock and Kenzie Wilson each had two. Scoring was led by Pentzer with 19, followed by Mosley with 16, and the team shot 63 percent from the ¿ eld. “We give Crane credit. They can shoot the basketball,” coach Mosley said. “At times we weren’t contesting those threes and allowed them to creep back into the game. Overall, I was pleased with our defense in the second half and our offensive sets — we executed those pretty well.” Prospector Kenzie Wilson was happy with the win. “We came out and played our game, and defense is where we thrived,” she said. “It was a good win for us.” See ROUNDUP, Page B8 The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Grant Union Prospector head coach Steve Speth shares a game plan with the team during last Thursday’s game against Crane. Grant Union hopeful for state competition By Angel Carpenter Brady Burch Nathan Gehley Trace Gill Clayton Vaughan Wyatt Weaver Ricky Weickum Blue Mountain Eagle JOHN DAY — Sever- al key players from last year’s Prospector boys basketball team have re- turned to show their ex- perience on the court. Steve Speth, who works with assistant coaches Kelsey Wright and Kelly Stokes, has led the team as head coach for ¿ ve years and said this year’s seniors are the ¿ rst group he’s had which started with the eighth- grade travel team. “They have been ded- icated and have worked hard and improved tre- mendously, not only on the court, but off as well,” he said. “Our upcoming classes are also an ex- citing group and have tremendous potential to compete at a high level for many years to come.” Adding to the talent on this year’s roster are two juniors, six sophomores and three freshmen. “We have good depth at the varsity level, with strong senior and sopho- more classes,” Speth said. “All six of our seniors look to contribute strong- ly to the team this year.” Wyatt Weaver and Na- than Gehley are team cap- tains. Weaver said his previ- ous years playing on the team have prepared him to be a leader this year. “I think we’re coming together early this year,” he said. “I’m really excit- ed to be with these guys.” Gehley said he’s glad to step into the leadership role. “We’ve followed the leaders on the team in previous years and all the seniors have stuck with it,” he said. “We’ve all played together long enough that we work well as a team.” The other seniors are Ricky Weickum, Brady Burch, Clayton Vaughan and Trace Gill. Some of the seniors have been playing ball together since second or third grade, Weickum said. “Our team is looking pretty good offensively and defensively,” he said. “We’re looking better than in previous years. We’re more focused and take care of the ball.” Burch said playing together that long has helped their team chem- istry. “It’s good,” he said. “Our defense is good and we’ve improved on our offense.” “The team is looking good,” Vaughan said. “We’re working to be a tough out in the state tournament.” Speth said the team has a goal to play as a team and to do well at the state tournament. Along the way to achieving their goals, he said they work on posi- tive leadership, playing tough in practice and staying calm in games. Competing in the Wa- piti League in Class 2A, Speth said it will be a tough schedule this year. Grant Union will be up against Union, Imbler, El- gin, Burns, Enterprise and Cove. “We look forward to competing with the best teams in the state,” he said. “This team is unself- ish, work hard for each other and love the game of basketball — they are coachable.” COME SEE THE CREW AT LES SCHWAB IN JOHN DAY, 551 W. Main The stats Grant Union girls vs. Crane Kori Pentzer: 19 points, 3 steals Heather Mosley: 16 points, 3 steals Kenzie Wilson: 10 points, 2 steals Kaylee Wright: 7 point, 3 steals Samantha Brock: 4 points, 2 steals Mariah Moulton: 4 points John Day 541-575-1346 t a DON’T GET STUCK... without your tire chains this winter. v y QUICK FIT DIAMOND TIRE CHAINS If you don’t use your passenger/light truck chains, return them for a full refund after April 1, 2016. Return program does not apply to spikes spider device. They take the work and frustration out of using tire chains. They go on and off quickly and fit right to provide excellent traction during tough winter driving conditions.