WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
SPORTS
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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
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Oregon League all-league
selections.
Junior guard Sidney
Webb and sophomore
guard Aleesha Watson were
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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
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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.”
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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.
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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
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gym. The Tigers couldn’t believe
they had won.
“We’re all hyped,” Bailey Wat-
son said after that game.
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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-
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year — a three-gamer in January,
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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
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to work on things. From when they
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until now, they’re a totally differ-
ent team. I think a lot of people saw
that. I know we saw that.”
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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
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derclassmen contributors in 6WDQ¿HOG LQ WKH GLVWULFW
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
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team (seventh) to not be in
the state tournament. The
Tigers’ winning percentage
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ment, and the Tigers have
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“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.
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said. “Games were harder
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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
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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
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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-
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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
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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
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Bailey Watson. Junior
guard Cynthia Curiel was
an honorable mention se-
lection.
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Curiel each played point
guard and off-guard and
were primary threats from
three-point range.
The second-place Stan-
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was also well represented
on CBC all-league teams.
Sophomore
wing
Dylan Grogan was the lone
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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.