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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2015)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7 SPORTS 8PDWLOODER\VUHFHLYHVHYHQDOOOHDJXHVHOHFWLRQVJLUOV¿YH senior guard Dany Ayala, senior forward Andrew Jai- HERMISTON HERALD me and senior wing Eric The state-bound Uma- Garcia. Two Vikings were tilla boys basketball team named to the second-team: cleaned up in 3A Eastern junior wings Juan Coria Oregon League All-League and Tristen Sanguino. Two selections, garnering seven more received honorable selections in total. mentions: senior forward Umatilla’s seven selec- Aaron Simmons and fresh- tions were the most in the man guard Kaden Webb. league, with league champ Ayala was the catalyst Nyssa garnering four, and to Umatilla’s offense, rack- Vale and Riverside had ing up assist numbers and three each. sparking runs by attacking Three Vikings were the basket. Jaime alternat- QDPHG WR WKH ¿UVW WHDP ed starting and coming off BY SAM BARBEE the bench and provided en- ergy, rebounding and some scoring. Garcia, last year’s EOL Player of the Year, led Umatilla with accurate three-point shooting and overall scoring. Coria and Sanguino helped stretch defens- es with shooting and also helped clean the glass and play defense. Simmons was a big body down low and helped protect the rim. He could also stretch defenses with solid thre-point shoot- ing and was a decent re- bounder. Webb, who didn’t see serious playing time until about the second half of the season, came off the bench in place of Ayala and hit clutch 3s when Umatilla needed them most, espe- cially in two games against Vale. The state-bound Umatil- la girls basketball team was also rewarded for its stellar VHDVRQZLWK¿YH$(DVWHUQ Oregon League all-league selections. Junior guard Sidney Webb and sophomore guard Aleesha Watson were QDPHG WR WKH ¿UVW WHDP senior wing Kassandra Galbraith and junior post Courtney Dohman were named to the second team and senior post Iri Campos was an honorable mention selection. As the primary ball-han- dler, Webb initiated the offense and got the ball to the Lady Vikings’ scorers in opportune situations. For most of the year, Wat- son led the team in scoring, including a couple games in the high 20s. Galbraith SURYLGHG VLJQL¿FDQW HQHU- gy from the three spot and was the anchor on defense. Dohman and Campos were each solid on the block and provided good low-post scoring and rebounding. Vale’s senior guard Kami Hawkins was named the league’s player of the year, and the Vale Vikings led the league with six selections in to- tal. Nyssa garnered three selections, and Riverside earned two nods. 6WDQ¿HOGJLUOVIHHOLQJSRVLWLYHDERXWVHDVRQ Tigers fare well in CBC The girls struggled with basic drills. Every practice was as much a lec- ture as it was a lab, and Sharp never When the 2014-15 basketball had to lecture to much before. season began in November, the But as the season wore on, the 6WDQ¿HOGJLUOVSURJUDPZDVLQGLV- basketball improved. array. The team had lost its last 23 “There’s times we were in prac- games, and success seemed miles, tice, and we looked around like, even light years off. ‘Wow we actually look like a bas- Then came a surprising hire. ketball team,’” Sharp said. “That Daniel Sharp, who had been the was exciting to see.” ER\VFRDFKDW6WDQ¿HOGIRUWKHODVW 6WDQ¿HOG¿QLVKHGWKH\HDUZLWKD six years, was hired as the girls record of 10-15 (4-6 Columbia Ba- coach, too. With him he brought sin Conference), good for a tie with success: state appearances and +HSSQHU IRU WKLUG SODFH 6WDQ¿HOG league titles, even a third-place ef- beat Culver in the play-in round fort last year. RIWKHGLVWULFWWRXUQDPHQWWKH¿UVW Early on, things didn’t go well. WLPHLQVL[\HDUVWKDW6WDQ¿HOGKDG BY SAM BARBEE HERMISTON HERALD won a postseason game. After the win over Culver last ZHHN WKH WHDP ÀRDWHG RXW RI WKH gym. The Tigers couldn’t believe they had won. “We’re all hyped,” Bailey Wat- son said after that game. %XW6WDQ¿HOGUDQLQWRDEX]]VDZ with Pilot Rock, a team that thrashed second-place Weston-McEwen 45- 22 in the district title game. The Ti- gers lost 34-18. Despite the diffcult ending to the season, the season was a posi- tive experience, overall. After Stan- ¿HOG¶V RQO\ ZLQQLQJ VWUHDN RI WKH year — a three-gamer in January, MXQLRUJXDUG<D]]PLQ&KDYH]VDLG she felt like a basketball player, not someone who plays basketball. Sharp saw that, too. So did the fans, who started to come to boys’ games early to catch the ending of the girls’ games. That didn’t hap- pen last year. “I really feel like they started to grasp a vision,” Sharp said of his team. “There were some concepts they were taught, and they bought it. You could see them gaining some FRQ¿GHQFH7KH\QHHGDQRIIVHDVRQ to work on things. From when they VWHSSHG RQ WKH ÀRRU LQ 1RYHPEHU until now, they’re a totally differ- ent team. I think a lot of people saw that. I know we saw that.” 6WDQ¿HOGER\V¶VHDVRQHQGVLQKHDUWEUHDN Dylan Grogan, Tony Flores and Ryan Bailey. Coach Daniel Sharp said it was $ EX]] VXUURXQGHG WKH probably the most athlet- 6WDQ¿HOG ER\V EDVNHWEDOO ic group he’s had, with a team before this season be- good mix of experience and gan. The Tigers were fresh youth to push a team for- RII D WKLUGSODFH ¿QLVK DW ward. the 2013-14 state tourna- While the Tigers were ment, and they felt like they poised to make another could improve on that. deep postseason run, their They had solid scoring hopes were dashed Satur- seniors in Milan Davchevs- day when Heppner scored ki, Hunter Braithwaite and on three free throws in the (ULN*DODU]D7KH\KDGXQ- ODVW ¿YH VHFRQGV WR GHIHDW derclassmen contributors in 6WDQ¿HOG LQ WKH GLVWULFW BY SAM BARBEE HERMISTON HERALD VHPL¿QDO $W 6WDQ- ¿HOG LV WKH KLJKHVWUDQNHG team (seventh) to not be in the state tournament. The Tigers’ winning percentage LVEHWWHUWKDQKDOIWKH ¿HOGDWWKH$VWDWHWRXUQD- ment, and the Tigers have PRUH ZLQV WKDQ ¿YH WHDPV ZKRTXDOL¿HG “We did a heck of a job in a tough league,” Sharp said. “Unfortunately, this year we only had two teams going to state this year. It was just how it worked out. “I think we played one of the toughest schedules we had,” he added. “Our league is one of the tough- est in the state right now. I feel good how they played. It’s kind of weird. It’s been six years since we didn’t make it to the state round.” 6WDQ¿HOG¶V VHDVRQ ZDV twice as long as those of some because he coached both girls and boys this year. He said, going into the season he thought games would probably be easier and practices would be hard. Now, with both seasons under his belt, his opinions have changed. ³,W ZDV ÀLSSHG´ 6KDUS said. “Games were harder WKDQ,WKRXJKWDQGWKH¿UVW quarter of boys’ games was a little bit of a fog, just try- ing to get your mind right. Right now, I couldn’t do it again. I need six months to rest up. It was an expe- rience. I enjoyed it. Both teams helped out. Good memories.” BULLDOGS: and Greb was tagged with an intentional foul after pulling Edmiston to the floor. The fourth quarter dragged by without much excitement, but Pendle- ton slowly whittled away the lead. Bodmer scored her first two points of the game, and Darian Lind- sey followed it with her own two-pointer to cut Hermiston’s 13-point lead from the third quar- ter lead down to nine. Af- ter the Bulldogs’ lead was cut to eight, Sidney Webb got a short jumper to fall to extend things back to double digits for the Bull- dogs. Then Kristin Wil- liams, who led the Bucks with 15 points, scored ZLWKOHIWWRSURPSWD Hermiston timeout. “We were trying to run some different sets and bring the ball out in a four-out, five-out, and we just let their pressure dic- tate what we were doing,” Hoffert said. “We were a little anxious. When we understand the com- plete game about a big lead and the ball, and we don’t have to be in a hur- ry, we’ll be a lot stronger. Right now, we’re figuring that out.” Tuesday’s game was the last in both teams’ regular seasons. continued from page A6 SAM BARBEE PHOTO Hermiston’s Maddy Juul (center) tries to scoop home a layup through the defense of Pendleton’s Kristin Williams (left) and 0DUOHQH%RGPHUGXULQJWKHÀUVWKDOIRI+HUPLVWRQ·VZLQ Tuesday night at Warberg Court. SANTOYO: continued from page A6 there, he plans to major in accounting. Santoyo said, while he initially wanted to stay close to home, he learned quickly that wasn’t an op- tion, and he broadened his search until he found Ta- bor, or Tabor found him, rather. His parents, Luis and Norma, said they didn’t doubt their son would eventually go to college somewhere, whether he was playing football or not. They said it’s been hard coming to grips with their son leaving, but he’s achieving something they’ve worked for all his life: He’s going to college. “That’s been our goal since (he was) little,” Nor- ma Santoyo said. “We told him that this doesn’t stop at high school. College is our goal.” Norma and Luis said the affordability of the small Christian liberal arts school appealed to them. With rising tuition costs every- ZKHUH¿QGLQJDVFKRROWKDW would both accommodate Santoyo and allow his fam- ily to send him there was invaluable. Santoyo said he is excit- ed to be going somewhere new and to meet new peo- ple and have new experi- can’t go by,” Hoffert said. “So, start using your quickness, start using your anticipation and get after the ball, and good things are gonna happen for us. She got a little fa- tigued. She burned a lot of energy playing offense and defense tonight, but those are huge.” From that 6-0 run un- til midway through the fourth quarter, Hermiston was firmly in control of the game. The Bulldogs didn’t trail the entire sec- ond half, and the smallest lead was at 51-44 after a free throw by Pendleton’s Shelby Greb. Things got a bit chop- py along the way, howev- er. Hermiston’s Headings and Pendleton’s Marlene Bodmer were whistled for double fouls midway through the third period, ences. “You got to grow up some time,” he said. When Santoyo told Hodges about his decision, the football coach was ec- static. “He told me to work hard to do good by Herm- iston and Tabor,” the senior said. BY SAM BARBEE HERMISTON HERALD 7KH 6WDQ¿HOG JLUOV basketball team was re- warded for its surprising season with a number of all-league selections and a Coach of the Year nod. Daniel Sharp, in his ¿UVW \HDU FRDFKLQJ WKH girls, was named the 2014- 15 2A Columbia Basin Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Ti- gers to a spot in the district tournament. Joining Sharp with postseason honors were second-team selections MXQLRU JXDUG <D]]PLQ &KDYH] DQG MXQLRU JXDUG Bailey Watson. Junior guard Cynthia Curiel was an honorable mention se- lection. &KDYH] :DWVRQ DQG Curiel each played point guard and off-guard and were primary threats from three-point range. The second-place Stan- ¿HOGER\VEDVNHWEDOOWHDP was also well represented on CBC all-league teams. Sophomore wing Dylan Grogan was the lone ¿UVWWHDP 7LJHU 6HQLRU wing Hunter Braithwaite and senior forward Milan Davchevski were named to the second team, and sophomore guard Ryan Bailey was an honorable mention selection. As a sophomore, Gro- gan was the Tigers’ prima- ry ball handler and leading scorer. Braithwaite played off the ball and gave en- ergy, scoring and defense, and Davchevski was a big body down low who could score, rebound and protect the rim. The sophomore Bailey was a shooting threat from deep.