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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2017)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2017 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9 Herald Sports Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports Bulldogs grind out victory Hermiston overcomes sluggish pace to down Hood River By ERIC SINGER Staff writer Friday night’s Hermis- ton boys basketball game against Hood River was not one of the more entertain- ing games of the season. It was a high-scoring affair with 127 combined points scored, but there were also a whopping 49 fouls called in the game, which slowed the game down for the spectators and affected any momentum for both Hermiston and Hood River. “It’s kind of tough to get in a rhythm ... you start to get on a run and then a foul’s called and on and on,” Hermiston coach Ca- sey Arstein said. “But I thought the kids did a good job holding their compo- sure.” In the end, Hermis- ton’s superior talent shined through as the Bulldogs put away Hood River Valley for the second time this sea- son with a 75-52 victory on senior night at The Dawg House. “I thought we played pretty hard defensively and smart for the most part,” Arstein added. “I was proud of the kids that we got a win at home and now we have three days to get ready for the battle at Pendleton.” See BULLDOGS, A10 TIGERS FEND OFF TIGERSCOTS STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Umatilla’s Kaden Webb shoots the ball between Irrigon’s Johnny Phillips and Hayden White in the Vikings’ 61-59 win against the Knights on Friday in Umatilla. Vikings stun Knights for district title Sebastian Garcia plays hero with last-second shot By ERIC SINGER Staff writer Sebastian Garcia was a quiet contributor to Uma- tilla’s offense through three quarters of their district championship game against Irrigon on Friday night. But once the final buzzer sounded at The Pit, Garcia had elevated himself to hero status. Garcia hit a 3-pointer in transition from the left wing with just 8.3 seconds to play, which proved to be the game-winning shot, as the Vikings pulled out a 61-59 victory over Irrigon to claim the district title. “All I was thinking is man I have to make this,” said Garcia, who finished with 12 points. “And when it went through, it was just a great feeling.” Umatilla (17-7, 8-2) ju- nior guard Kaden Webb said he had no doubt that the shot was going in. “Sebastian’s a great shooter and we’ve always got confidence in him,” Webb said. “He may miss five in a row, but there’s no doubt he’s going to make the big ones and he did.” The shot came just sec- onds after some luck fell the Vikings’ ways, as Irrigon’s Hayden White missed a fast-break lay-in opportuni- ty that would have put the Knights up by three points. Irrigon (15-8, 7-3) then had a chance for a last-second shot to tie or win, but the Vikings defense didn’t give the Knights a good look. Daniel Vera’s despera- tion shot from just inside halfcourt missed wide at the buzzer, and the standing room-only crowd at the pit exploded into a pandemoni- um. “I just can’t believe we won,” Webb said. “It was a lot harder than we wanted it to be, but these are the games we live for and it’s amazing ... it’s just indescribable.” “This was the first time I’ve seen the crowd like this in this gym and I loved it,” Umatilla coach Derek Lete said. “When you can’t hear yourself think or talk it’s a great feeling especially when the scoreboard is like this.” The game was in Irrigon’s control for the majority of the game, with the Knights leading through most of the second, third and fourth quarters. But just as Irrigon would get a cushion, Uma- tilla would charge right back. That was the case late in the fourth, when Irrigon was holding a four-point cushion with less than 30 seconds to play. But then Justin Maret hit his biggest shot of the night, a 3-pointer from near- ly the same spot as Garcia would hit from later, to cut the Knights’ lead to 59-58 with 15.6 left to play. Then things just fell into place for the Vikings. “It was honestly one of the best games I’ve been a part of,” Lete said. “You can’t draw it up like this.” Webb led all scorers with 23 points and also dished out eight assists for the Vikings, with 15 of those points com- ing in the second half. Trent Durfey had a dou- ble-double for the Vikings with 13 points and 11 re- bounds while Maret had nine points and seven boards. Irrigon led 28-23 at half- time thanks to a red-hot shooting performance and some effective man-to-man defense. The Knights shot 52 percent (12-23) in the quarter and were constantly giving the Vikings fits. “Irrigon played a real- ly good first half and we didn’t,” Lete said. “I talked to the guys at halftime about just having confidence ... I thought we could play better and I didn’t think they could play any better than they did ... but Irrigon just played re- ally tough, they’re game plan was great but I’m just proud of the guys for pulling it out.” Irrigon played well for the majority of the second half, but missed shots and turnovers down the stretch caught up to them. Irrigon shot 51 percent through three quarters, but made just 3-13 shots in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over a to- tal of 23 times. UP NEXT The victory clinches a home first-round playoff game for Umatilla, who will face Horizon Christian of Tualatin at 6 p.m. Friday. Irrigon will travel to Salem Academy for a 7 p.m. game on Friday in the first round of the 3A tournament. Both teams will need wins to qualify for the quar- terfinal-round of the tourna- ment on the Southern Ore- gon Coast. ———— IHS 14 14 17 14 — 59 UHS 14 9 18 20 — 61 IRRIGON — J. Philips 16, A. Rice 14, H. White 10, A. Roa 8, L. Covarrubia 5, O. Vera 2, D. Vera 2, E. Carillo 2. UMATILLA — K. Webb 23, T. Durfey 13, S. Garcia 12, J. Maret 9, S. Cranston 2, T. Morris 2. 3-pointers — IHS 5, UHS 6. Free throws — IHS 12-19, UHS 9-18. Fouls — IHS 15, UHS 16. ———— Contact Eric Singer at 541-966-0839. Grogan powers Stanfield with game-high 31 points By ERIC SINGER Staff Writer The Weston-McEwen Ti- gerScots gave the Stanfield Tigers everything they had on Saturday afternoon, threat- ening to snap the top-ranked team in the state’s win-streak. But Stanfield finished the game on a 20-5 run to capture the Columbia Basin Confer- ence district championship with a 88-68 victory over the TigerScots at the Pendleton Convention Center. With the regular season league championship already in the Tigers’ (19-1) back pocket, the district title is the second of the three major goals the team had set for it- self. “The second game of the year, coach asked what we wanted out of our season,” Stanfield senior Enoel Angel said following Saturday’s game. “The first was league champs, next was districts and then third was the ulti- mate and that’s state champs. Well we have two down, now just one more left.” Angel, who finished with 10 points and four rebounds, hit one of the biggest shots of the game for Stanfield late in the fourth quarter. As Weston-McEwen (14-10) was on a 14-5 run to start the quarter to cut the Tiger lead to 68-62, Angel nailed a wide- open 3-pointer from the left corner to bump the lead back to nine points. That sparked Stanfield’s sprint to the finish line. Prior to Angel’s shot, Stan- field coach Jason Sperr called a timeout where Angel said the coach simply wanted the team to re-set themselves. “He just told us to play our game ... we had slowed down and that’s when we struggled in the half-court sets,” An- gel said. “They (TigerScots) were playing physical and we weren’t reacting to it well and (coach) just said to be smart and keep playing our game.” Weston-McEwen sur- prised Stanfield to start the game, as the TigerScots were able to break the full-court press and turn those into some easy shot attempts, keeping the quarter at a lightning-fast tempo. The TigerScots held a 7-2 lead early before Stan- STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Stanfield’s Dylan Grogan shoots the ball over Weston-McEwen’s Shaw Broncheau in the Tigers’ 88-68 win against the TigerScots on Saturday in Pendleton. ALL-LEAGUE TEAMS Player of the Year — Logan Grieb, Heppner Coaches of the Year — Mike Weinke, Pilot Rock; Jeremy Rosenbalm, Heppner First team — Shaw Broncheau, Weston-McEwen; Chris Weinke, Pilot Rock; Dylan Grogan, Stanfield; Ethan Reger, Weston-McEwen; Bryson Pierce, Pilot Rock. Second team — Ryan Bailey, Stanfield; Jake Lindsay, Heppner; Mike Davis, Culver; Jose Garcia, Stanfield; Brett Speed, Weston-McEwen. Honorable mention — Thyler Monkus, Stanfield; Caden Hedman, Heppner; Tony Flores, Stanfield; Weston Basl, Culver; Kevin Murray, Heppner. field quickly tied it, and then re-took the lead for the re- mainder of the quarter at 20- 17. “Most teams don’t want to match our speed and I think that was a bit different to our guys, surprised them,” Sperr said. “But I thought Weston-McEwen was as good a team as we’ve seen all year basically from start to finish at playing our style of game and it was fun to Hermiston rolls past Eagles Hermiston Herald The Hermiston girls bas- ketball team kept its hot streak going with a 67-29 blowout victory on the road over Hood River Valley on Friday night, the Bulldogs’ fourth consecu- tive victory. “We came out early and the girls got a good jump right out of the gates,” Hermiston coach Juan Rodriguez said. “Our offense was humming tonight and our defense was playing great.” Hermiston led 16-2 after the first quarter and then held a 36-10 advantage at halftime. Maddy Juul led all scorers with 20 points for the Bull- dogs, as she found her way to the basket with ease especial- ly in the second half. “It was a typical Maddy where she got real aggres- sive,” Rodriguez said. “She knew we couldn’t have a sluggish start in the third quarter and she found ways to score with her back to the basket and the ability to drive to the basket. I was pretty happy with the way she played.” Following behind Juul was Jordan Thomas with 14 points, Rileigh Andreason with nine and Madison Wil- son with seven. In total, nine players earned their way into the scorebook. This week Hermiston hit the road again on Tuesday to travel to Pendleton for the rubber match with the Buckaroos. The Bucks took the first game in Pendleton, 53-48, and Hermiston won the sec- ond match at The Dawg House, 62-31. The game started to late to get results in this week’s print edition of the Hermiston Herald, but look for results online at www. hermistonherald.com. ———— HHS 16 20 17 14 — 67 HRV 2 8 11 8 — 29 HERMISTON — M. Juul 20, J. Thomas 14, R. Andreason 9, M. Wilson 7, J. Romero 6, H. Meyers 4, S. Stefani 3, S. Gilbert 2, K. Padilla 2. HOOD RIVER — E. Curtis 8, H. Baker 7, L. Orr 7, A. Kinoshita 3, L. Weekly 2, A. Goodman 2. 3-pointers — HHS 6, HRV 2. Free throws — HHS 11-19, HRV 6-20. Fouls — HHS 18, HRV 15. watch.” Stanfield’s offense took some time to settle in as well, as the Tigers hit just 5-19 shots (26 percent) in the first quarter, but then went 26-55 (47 percent) over the final three quarters. Dylan Grogan led all scorers with 31 points on 12-22 shooting and added seven rebounds and four as- sists. “We know if we need a score, we can give Dylan the ball and he’ll do it,” Angel said. “He’s arguably the best player, I say, in the state.” See TIGERS, A10 SCOREBOARD Local slate PREP BOYS BASKETBALL Friday #9 Horizon Christian, Tualatin at #8 Umatil- la (Class 3A first round), 6 p.m. #15 Oakland at #2 Stanfield (Class 2A first round), 6 p.m. #13 Irrigon at #4 Salem Academy (Class 3A first round), 7 p.m. Hermiston at Hood River, 7 p.m. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL Friday Hood River at Hermiston, 7 p.m. PREP WRESTLING Friday-Saturday Hermiston, Pendleton, Mac-Hi, Irrigon, Riverside, Heppner/Ione at OSAA State Championships Prep Standings BOYS BASKETBALL 5A Columbia River Conference Conf. Ovr Rank Pendleton 7-0 12-4 10 Hermiston 5-2 15-6 11 Hood River 1-5 6-12 29 The Dalles 1-7 4-15 27 GIRLS BASKETBALL 5A Columbia River Conference Conf. Ovr Rank Hermiston 6-1 12-9 11 Pendleton 6-1 10-7 12 The Dalles 2-6 7-11 22 Hood River 0-6 6-10 28
