EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 18, 2019
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DECEMBER 31ST
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GAMES, REFRESHMENTS AND A MOVIE.
Basketball team splits games
The Heppner Mustang
varsity boys’ basketball
team split their games last
weekend. They traveled
to Portland and lost to the
Portland Christian Roy-
als by the score of 46-27
and then on the way home
stopped in Dufur and beat
the Rangers 46-39.
It was hard to tell what
exactly caused the poor
shooting night for the Mus-
tang boys basketball team at
Portland Christian’s gym.
The long road trip, the poor
lighting in the gym which
seemed to affect all three
Heppner teams, tired legs
as they try to catch up from
the long football season or
a combination of all three.
Portland Christian is a
well-coached team that has
several really good athletes
and they can shoot the ball
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well. The Heppner team
struggled all night long
shooting the ball in the dim-
ly lit gym. There were many
good looks that were really
close to the basket that just
wouldn’t fall through the
hoop. Their long-range
shooting wasn’t at all near
the percentage of what the
team has been doing so far
early in the season.
Heppner trailed 13-7
after the first quarter and
were down at halftime 21-
12. The Mustangs were
outscored 17-6 in the third
quarter as the Royals led
38-18. Neither team scored
much in the final quarter
and the Royals got the win
by the score of 46-27.
The varsity boys team
trailed after the first quarter
at Dufur by the score of 13-
9. They continued to strug-
gle to score points in the
second quarter and trailed
at halftime 21-14. Heppner
came out after halftime and
started to chip away at the
Ranger lead and closed to
within four points at the end
of the third quarter as they
trailed 31-27.
The fourth quarter be-
longed to the Mustangs as
they turned up the defensive
pressure and forced several
Dufur turnovers that led to
scores. A unique combi-
nation of Heppner players
stayed strong all quarter
long and finally took the
lead midway through the
quarter. Some clutch free
throw shooting, good ball
handling and passing kept
the Mustangs in the lead
and they got the win by the
score of 46-39.
The Heppner Junior
Varsity team won both of
their games on the weekend
trip. They beat the Royals
49-39 and the Rangers by
the score of 65-25.
At Portland Christian,
the JV Mustangs started
slow and trailed after the
first quarter 12-8. They
fought back to only trail
22-19 at the half. The Mus-
tangs turned it up in the sec-
ond half and outscored the
Royals 30-17 and got the
win by the score of 49-39.
Joe Sherman led the
team in scoring with 14
points. Roy Collins and
David Cribbs each scored
seven points for the team.
With six points each were
Kason Cimmiyotti and
Tucker Ashbeck. Scoring
four points each were Blake
Carter and Ty Boor while
Cody Fletcher had one.
In the Dufur game, all
of the Mustang players
scored. Heppner led after
the first quarter 22-8 and
39-15 at halftime. Another
strong scoring third quarter
saw the Mustangs take a
60-21 lead heading into the
final frame. Sherman and
Ashbeck each scored 11
points to lead the team. Col-
lins had nine and with eight
points each were Carter
and Trevor Nichols. Cribbs
finished with seven points
and with four each were
Fletcher and Cimmiyotti.
Boor scored two points in
the game and Derrick Smith
added one.
This week is a big week
for the Mustang basketball
teams. On Tuesday the
varsity and junior varsity
teams host the Riverside
Pirates. On Thursday night
the varsity boys and girls
play at home against the
Myrtle Point Bobcats start-
ing at 6 p.m. On Friday
and Saturday, both varsity
teams play at the Pendle-
ton Convention Center in
the 2A East-West Preview
Tournament. On Friday the
teams play the Illinois Val-
ley Cougars with the girls’
game starting at 3 p.m. and
the boys will follow at 4:45.
On Saturday the teams will
play the Gervais Cougars
with the boys’ game sched-
uled to start at 6:15 and the
girls’ game at 8 p.m.
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