SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Smith, Flynn battle for state
wrestling championships
Heppner athletes Ryan
Smith and Cord Flynn
will take to the mat this
weekend, Feb. 26-27, at
the OSAA/U.S. Bank/Les
Schwab Tires 2016 Wres-
tling State Championships
in Portland.
It will be Smith’s third
state tournament, while Fly-
nn will be competing for the
irst time. Smith already has
two state championships
from his previous two trips
to the state tournament.
The tournament will
take place at the Veterans
Memorial Coliseum, where
classes 1A to 6A will com-
pete side by side on 12
mats. The tournament will
culminate in the state inals
on ive mats in the 12,888-
seat coliseum.
Mustangs take district
championship
-From PAGE ONE
L-R: Mustangs Ryan Smith and Cord Flynn sit with Heppner
wrestling coach Mark Lemmon as they study another wres-
tler’s technique during the Pine Eagle Invitational recently.
Smith and Flynn are headed to the state championship tour-
nament this weekend in Portland. -Photo by Kirsti Cason
Heppner students collect
Pennies for Patients
Heppner Elementary students collected their pennies—as well as nickels, dimes and quar-
ters—for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Pennies for Patients program. Leukemia and
Lymphoma are types of cancer, and the pennies that were collected are intended to help people
with the disease live a better life and hopefully to ind a cure. HES was able to raise $228.22 and
show its Colt Compassion. Pictured (L-R): Student council members Derrick Smith, Landon
Mitchell, Trevor Nichols, Cody Fletcher and Kason Cimmiyotti turn in the coins to Bev Crumb
from the Bank of Eastern Oregon. -Contributed photo
The Heppner Mustangs
boys’ basketball team won
the Columbia Basin Con-
ference District Tourna-
ment with a 50-45 win
over the Irrigon Knights.
To reach the championship
game on Saturday night the
Mustangs irst had to defeat
the Weston-McEwen Tiger-
Scots. Heppner did that in
convincing fashion by the
score of 59-30.
In the game against the
TigerScots, Heppner was
looking to avenge a two-
point loss they suffered just
two weeks ago at Weston-
McEwen. A win would also
move the Mustangs into the
OSAA State Playoffs for
the second year in a row.
Heppner came out of the
locker room ready to go
and played an inspired irst
quarter as the Mustangs
jumped out to a quick 17-10
lead. Heppner continued to
score in the second quarter
and picked up the defensive
intensity. They scored 15
points in the quarter and
held W-M to only seven.
The Mustangs led at half-
time by the score of 32-17.
The Mustangs, who
spent the entire week at
practice concentrating on
the defensive end of the
floor, held W-M to only
21.7 percent shooting in
the second half. The Tiger-
Scots could only manage
to score 13 points in the
entire second half. Heppner
continued to attack on the
offensive end of the court
and shot more than 42 per-
cent. The Mustangs scored
27 points in the second half
and won the game going
Mustang Kaden Clark looks for an opening in the TigerScot
press during Friday’s district game in Pendleton. -Photo by
Sandra Putman
away by the score of 59-30.
CJ Kindle led the team
in scoring with 21. He also
had 5 rebounds and 1 assist.
Logan Grieb followed with
14 points, 3 rebounds and
3 assists. Weston Putman
recorded a double-double
with 10 points and 11 re-
bounds. Caden Hedman
chipped in 7 points and 3 re-
bounds for the team. Patrick
Collins had 3 points, 2 re-
bounds and 2 steals for the
Mustangs. Kaden Clark and
Kevin Murray each scored
2 points in the game. Clark
also had 3 rebounds and
2 steals in the game while
Murray hauled down 7 big
rebounds. Every player that
dressed down for the team
Mustang players,
coach receive all-
Elks announce state Chamber conference honors
Hoop Shoot results lunch
meeting
On Feb. 13, local District Elks Hoop Shoot winners competed
in the state competition in Milwaukie, OR. Eight participants
competed in each age group for both girls and boys, each shoot-
ing 25 shots. Every Heppner participant placed and received
a trophy at the state level. Sydney Wilson placed third in the
12-13 year old girls’ group, Brock Hisler placed third in the
10-11 year-old boys’ group, and Hallee Hisler placed second
in the 8-9 year old girls’ group. Pictured L-R: Elks Northeast
District Director Corey Sweeney, Sydney Wilson, Brock Hisler,
Hallee Hisler and Elks Association Oregon State President Jim
Alametta. -Contributed photo
The next lunch meeting
of the Heppner Chamber
of Commerce will be an all
entities report on Thursday,
March 3, at noon in Hep-
pner City Hall conference
room.
Cost of lunch is $10;
Mustang Diner will cater.
Chamber lunch attendees
are asked to RSVP at 541-
676-5536 no later than the
Wednesday before to guar-
antee a lunch.
The Heppner chamber
also welcomes its new-
est member, Jason Haigh,
owner of Haigh Heating
and Cooling, LLC.
He is based out of
Hermiston and can be
reached at 541-720-2784.
Have a news story for the Gazette? Email editor@rapidserve.net.
Receiving all-conference honors at the Columbia Basin Con-
ference District Tournament were (L-R) Logan Grieb, Weston
Putman, Coach Jeremy Rosenbalm, Patrick Collins and CJ
Kindle. -Contributed photo
Four members of the
Heppner Mustang basket-
ball team and their coach
were honored at the Co-
lumbia Basin Conference
District Tournament last
weekend.
Weston Putman re-
ceived an honorable men-
tion award for his outstand-
ing play this season.
Three other members
of this year’s team were
first team all-conference
award winners. Patrick Col-
lins, CJ Kindle and Logan
Grieb were selected to the
irst team by a vote of the
coaches in the BMC.
Coach Jeremy Rosen-
balm was selected by his
fellow coaches as the Coach
of the Year. This is the
second year in a row that
Coach Rosenbalm has won
the award.
got into the game and con-
tributed in the victory.
With the win against
W-M, it moved the Mus-
tangs to the CBC title game
against the Irrigon Knights.
The teams had split their
games in the regular sea-
son by a total of only nine
points. This game started
out with the Knights taking
an early lead. The Mustang
team kept their cool and
slowly cut into the Irrigon
lead. Heppner went on a
7-0 run and tied the score
at the end of the irst quar-
ter 12-12. Irrigon made
an early run in the second
quarter but the Mustangs
responded. They pulled to
within one point midway
through the quarter. The
Knights made another run
late and ended the irst half
with a 28-21 lead.
The Heppner team
came out and grabbed the
momentum early in the
third quarter. The Mustangs
picked up the defensive ef-
fort and held the Knights
to only seven points in the
quarter. Heppner was able to
score 15 points and led the
game at the end of the third
quarter 36-33. The Knights
fought their way back into
the lead at 42-41, but the
Mustangs quickly regained
the lead and pushed it to
45-42. Irrigon then tied it
up with a three-pointer be-
fore Heppner scored again
and took the lead for good
with only 30 seconds left to
play. The Mustangs made
three free-throws to close
out the game and win the
championship by the score
of 50-45.
It was another out-
standing defensive effort
by the Mustangs that made
the difference. After Irrigon
shot 46 percent from the
ield in the irst half, they
shot only 28 percent in the
second half. Heppner shot
42 percent for the game
and dominated the glass.
Heppner outrebounded the
Knights 36-18, with many
of those being on the offen-
sive end in the second half.
Collins had a big game
and a double-double. He
scored 21 points and had 13
rebounds. He also recorded
1 assist and he blocked
a shot. Putman had 12
points and 6 rebounds to
go along with an assist.
Grieb contributed 9 points,
4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Kindle and Hedman each
scored 4 points in the game.
Kindle also hauled down 7
rebounds and had 1 assist
and 2 steals. Hedman also
had 1 rebound, 1 assist and
2 steals in the game.
With the win the Mus-
tangs, now 20-3 for the sea-
son, will host a irst-round
playoff game Saturday at 2
p.m. against the Lost River
Raiders. The Raiders are
15-10 and the second-place
team from the Mountain
View Conference.