Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 2015)
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A11 Ego plans to turn Bulldogs into greyhounds By SAM BARBEE Staff Writer In a college basketball game 30 years ago, then-In- diana Hoosiers head basket- ball coach Bob Knight earned sports immortality when, in a game against the Purdue Boilermakers, Knight lost his composure and hurled a chair from his bench, across the lane and onto the baseline on the opposite side of the court. He was ejected, and the mo- ment lives on in sports history as one of the most interesting forms of passion ever seen. Dave Ego, Hermiston’s interim basketball coach, has similar sensibilities. “I won’t fold my program up and watch the game quiet- ly,” he quipped. “I probably come closer to throwing a chair across the gym.” After a 20-year hiatus from coaching basketball, Ego hopes to bring success and stability to a program that hasn’t had much of either in the last ¿ve years. Working with a largely new roster, Ego will bring dis- cipline and pace to the Dawg- house. He believes teenagers ¿nd solace in structure and dedication in discipline. But how much has the game changed? The last time Ego coached a high school basketball game, the game had yet to evolve into the pe- rimeter-focused screen-and- roll game we watch today. The 3-point line is bigger than its ever been, and tall players, once banished to the low block, are starting to develop outside games. Has this affected any of Ego’s theories and philoso- phies? No. “The fundamentals haven’t changed,” he said. “They still drib- ble. They still rebound. They still shoot. Does the 3-point line change anything? Some for the Ego better, some not for the better. But I think what you’re able to do — you can shoot 37 percent from that line and feel pretty good about it. It’s probably changed the game, the outside game, a little, but generally not (basketball).” He noted some college basketball teams — old West- ern Kentucky and Chicago Marymount squads — played a modern up-and-down style with lots of outside shooting. “That’s because the funda- mentals haven’t changed,” he said. “Dribbling, rebounding, shooting, things like that. If you look back, defenses ha- ven’t changed as much as people think. We are still revisiting the UCLA press and some of those things people want to still do today. “But what’s really paramount is the at- titude, the behavior. Right now, particularly right now in Hermiston, commitment has to be a capital ‘C’. That’s one of the things that’s imper- ative.” He said commitment starts with the parents. He’s going to have his players doing certain things — like eating a certain way — and he said he needs the parents on board with that. “And that’s not just at the varsity level, the JV level,” he said. “We’re talking about AAU programs and every- thing else. Parents want to be really involved. But how do we want them involved?” Ego puts the program above everything else. It’s above a single player, a single level, a single team. He wants all four teams — varsity, ju- nior varsity I, junior varsity II, c-squad — to all have the same uniforms so transfer- ring players between levels is logistically easier. He’s also willing to play the best play- ers regardless of class. If that means four freshman start on the varsity roster because they deserve it, then that’s what he’ll do. In his mind, the pro- gram comes ¿rst. “It’s not a problem if they’re ready,” he said. “But if they’re not ready, I won’t throw them in the ¿re.” Behind senior point guard Austin Naillon, Ego wants to run. He’s already had conversations with Naillon about leadership and setting the example. The senior has been running with the Bull- dogs’ cross country team to get in shape for the up-tem- po system Ego wants to run. Ego said he wants Naillon to be in such good shape when practice starts in November that he’s not tired while con- ditioning, and hopefully that will bleed into the rest of the group who sees Naillon’s work. In addition, Ego hopes to have 6-foot-3 athlete Tre Neal come out, as well as 6-foot-5 Brok Palmer, who was on the team last year. He knows that Neal, who is the defensive end on the football team, is athletic and can bang in the post, And about Palmer? “You can’t teach 6-5,” he said. Volleyball trouble winning the large school championship at the Pasco Bulldog Invite on Saturday. The Umatilla senior broke the tape for the fourth time this season with a winning time of 15 minutes, 53.9 seconds in the 5,000 meter race. In second was Lew- iston’s Austin Byrer in 16:02.9. Lewiston (ID) won the team title with 26 points, and Kennewick (WA) and Richland (WA) tied in a distant second with 96. Umatilla was fourth with 99 and had another top 20 ¿nisher in Bradley Bensen, who was 20th in a time of 18:47. Weston-McEwen (3-2, 0-1) limited Stan¿eld run- ning back Thyler Monkus to 78 yards on 17 carries, but quarterback Dylan Grogan was still able to run for 113 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. He attempted just ¿ve passes, going 1 for 5 for 14 yards. Three more Stan¿eld rushers combined to add 93 yards, and Abraham Gomez added a touch- down. “It was a tough defen- sive game, the yards were tough to come by tonight,” Stan¿eld coach Davy Salas said. “There was lots of hard hitting and both teams were playing their hearts out.” Stan¿eld takes its un- blemished record on the road to face undefeated Irrigon next week while Weston-McEwen hosts Pi- lot Rock. right Friday night, except ¿nish drives. After the Cougars and Badgers went to the lock- er room tied at six, Powder Valley scored twice on big plays in the third quarter and held off a late Echo charge to down the Cou- gars 20-12 in Echo. Echo (2-3, 0-2), which was playing without start- ing quarterback Klay Jen- son, out-gained the Bad- gers 307-186 and forced two Powder Valley turn- overs. But Echo itself had trouble ¿nishing drives, either turning it over them- selves or committing a crippling penalty. Even so, Ty Mulder ¿lled in for Jenson by go- ing 5-14 for 76 yards and an interception, but it was the ground game that buoyed the Cougars. Damien Cu- riel busted some long runs on counter plays, accruing 125 yards on nine carries and a touchdown. Fresh- man Devan Craig also car- ried 15 times for 65 yards and a touchdown. Echo head coach Rick Thew had much praise for senior Hayden Sather, who led Echo with 15 tackes Friday night, six of which were for loss and three of which were sacks. Kyle Ranger and Curiel also pitched in with intercep- tions. “It was one of the best games I’ve seen played in Echo in some time,” Thew said. “That’s what makes it so painful.” Echo stays at home to play Joseph next week at 7 p.m. PREP ROUNDUP Boys soccer During the Umatilla boys soccer team’s three- match winning streak, the Vikings scored 15 goals, showing that they still re- tain some offensive ¿re- power after losing more than half of its roster from last year’s playoff team. But the Vikings have struggled to score in its past two matches, scor- ing just thrice and going 0-1-1 against a pair of 4A Greater Oregon opponents in Mac-Hi and La Grande. Saturday, though, in its third Special district 3 match of the year Umatil- la made a habit of scoring in a 5-0 defeat of Irrigon at City Field in Umatilla. Miguel Madrigal se- cured a hat trick early in the second half for the Vi- kings (4-4-1, 3-1) and Di- ego Saldana added a cou- ple of second half goals in the blowout. After a month of trying to play bunched up in the center of the pitch and without much com- munication, Umatilla head coach Pedro Ortiz said his players are ¿nally begin- ning to play the style of soccer Ortiz wants a Àuid, movement-oriented attack. Saturday was just that. The Vikings consistent- ly spread the ¿eld looking for lobs and crosses that were often accurate and re- sulted in goals. Irrigon (1- 3-1, 1-2-1) just didn’t have an answer. “I’m happy with that,” he said. “I think we kept control of the game the whole time, but what I liked was they started playing the whole width of the ¿eld. They were giving a lot of passes that we ha- ven’t been doing (lately).” The Stan¿eld Tigers volleyball team split a pair of matches Saturday after- noon in Athena. Against the Pilot Rock Rockets, Stan¿eld was swept 25-18, 25-22, 27- 25, and the Tigers did the sweeping over Heppner 25-16, 25-19, 25-17. Coach Angie Connell said she could see a drop- off in the Tigers’ serving as their arms wore out against Pilot Rock, but had few other complaints regarding the day’s play. Maddie Grif¿n had a staggering 12 aces against Heppner and the Tigers had 20 as a team, but had just three total against Pilot Rock. Larissa Castellanos had six kills on the day to lead Stan¿eld, Kaitlyn Burns added four and at team- high three blocks, and Shyanne Connell led them with 13 assists. CRESCENT VALLEY 2, HERMISTON 0 — At Beaverton, the Bulldogs also made a quick exit from the Westview Tour- nament in losses of 25-22, 25-20. No details were re- ported. Cross Country Fabian Cardenas didn’t run his fastest race of the season, but still had no Football The Stan¿eld Tigers and Weston-McEwen Ti- gerScots stood toe-to-toe in a Columbia Basin Con- ference slug-fest on Friday. With both defenses delivering smash-mouth blows, the Tigers were able to deliver the knockout punch for a 19-14 win in each team’s league opener. The Tigers (4-0, 1-0) made a defensive stand on the TigerScots’ ¿nal drive and then were able to run out the ¿nal 1:30 on a night that was lacking the gargantuan rushing totals each team had been putting up this season. POWDER VALLEY 20, ECHO 12 — The Echo Cougars did everything UMATILLA 28, TRI-CITIES PREP 27 — At Umatilla, the Vikings (4-1) won their second in a row against a Washington school with Friday’s non- league victory. No details were reported. Umatilla will cap a three-game swing against Washington programs next week at King’s Way Chris- tian in Vancouver. Here to help, even before the smoke clears . DON’T MISS OUT! Celebrate Your Loved Ones in Our Veterans Day SALUTE Staff Sergeant Joel Davis US Marines Veteran Honoring those who have served and those that are currently serving our country! Example Bring us a picture of your servicemen or servicewomen or veteran by November 5 th along with the form below and we will include them in our “Veterans Day Salute” on November 11 th in the East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald at no charge. For more information, call Paula at 1-800-522-0255 or Hermiston Herald at 541-564-4530. Service Person’s Name Military Branch Your Name Your Address Your Phone Number Military Rank Currently Serving Veteran (Check One) Deliver to: East Oregonian 211 SE Byers Ave. • Pendleton, OR Hermiston Herald 333 E. Main. • Hermiston, OR or e-mail to classifieds@eastoregonian.com :DV\RXUKRPHRUSURSHUW\GDPDJHGLQWKHZLOG´UHV" The Oregon Insurance Division has free resources to help you before — and after — making a homeowner’s insurance claim. Consumer advocates are here to provide accurate, unbiased information. They can answer your questions and mediate any misunderstandings with your claim. If you’ve been affected by WKHZLOG´UHVKHOSLVDYDLODEOHQRZ If you’ve got an insurance problem or complaint, visit Insurance.Oregon.gov or call (503) 947-7984. It’s free and we’re always here to help.