A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2017
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Dawgs go to holiday break with win
HERMISTON HERALD
DALLAS — The Hermis-
ton boys basketball team headed
into Christmas break on a positive
note as it ended a two-game losing
streak with a 72-52 victory on the
road against Dallas on Friday night.
“It was a real good win for
us going into break,” Hermiston
coach Casey Arstein said. “The
kids played very hard and well on
defense in the second half ... and on
offense we got in a groove and got
a lot of easy buckets off of our half-
court defense.”
The Bulldogs (4-4) had only two
scorers in double figures, but had a
very balanced night as the second
half cushion allowed Arstein to
empty his bench quite a bit. Ryne
Andreason led the Bulldogs with
14 points which include three made
3-pointers, while Jordan Ramirez
followed with 11 points. Three
Bulldogs finished with eight points
including Andrew James, who
played more minutes after getting
full clearance from a back injury
he had suffered during the football
state championship game.
“It was a great team effort, not
just from the top five guys,” Arstein
said. “We’re finally getting healthy
and getting into a groove.”
UP NEXT: Hermiston hosts Sil-
verton on Thursday at 7 p.m.
GIRLS: At West Valley, the
Hermiston Bulldogs’ losing streak
extended to four games on Fri-
day with a 54-31 non-league loss
to West Valley. The Bulldogs next
play on Wednesday against Ore-
gon City in the Lake Oswego
Tournament.
CLUTCH CRANSTON HELPS VIKINGS
Nixyaawii goes cold as
Umatilla earns comeback
By ERIC SINGER
STAFF WRITER
M
ISSION — For the first three
quarters on Friday night, the
Nixyaawii Golden Eagles
couldn’t miss a shot, hitting on
60 percent of their attempts.
That success gave the Golden
Eagles a 54-46 lead heading into the
final eight minutes against the red-
hot Umatilla Vikings. But in that final
quarter, Nixyaawii suddenly went
ice cold. Close-range lay-ins didn’t
fall in, and wide-open looks always
rimmed out. The Golden Eagles were
0 for their first nine from the floor,
which allowed the Umatilla Vikings
to come back and steal a 61-57 win.
“We had some good looks but I
think our youth and some fatigue
we just came up a little bit short,”
Nixyaawii coach Shane Rivera said.
“We had about three or four shots
that probably go in most days, and
would’ve made a big difference in
the game I think.”
The Golden Eagles (7-2) led for
the entire third quarter and most of
the fourth quarter until Umatilla’s
Seth Cranston swished a mid-range
jumper from the left baseline to put
the Vikings on top 55-54 with just
two minutes left to play. It was the
first lead for the Vikings (9-1) since a
28-27 advantage at the 1:10 mark of
the second quarter.
“It was a relief,” Cranston recalled
of his go-ahead shot. “We feel like
we should’ve done a lot better than
we did, but I’m glad we were able
to scratch it out. We had to come
together and pull our heads out of our
butts after that first half.”
Cranston was a clutch performer
for the Vikings in the game, lead-
ing the team with 17 points on 8-of-
13 shooting with five rebounds, three
assists and three steals. He utilized
his quickness on several occasions to
dribble around defenders and drive
towards the basket for easy close-
range shots, which made up the bulk
of his attempts. Cranston played a
lot of minutes on last year’s team,
but was known more for his defense
than a scoring ability, something that
Umatilla coach Scott Bow has had to
pry out of his senior wing this season.
“He’s a motor, man,” Umatilla
coach Scott Bow said of Cranston.
“His ability to keep going is spe-
cial. He didn’t want to be a scorer
(tonight), he wanted to play good
defense and I told him I’m not going
to play him in the second half if he’s
not going to step up and shoot the
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Umatilla’s Trent Durfey shoot the ball over Nixyáawii’s Magi Moses in the Vikings’
61-57 win against the Golden Eagles on Friday in Mission.
Umatilla’s Sebastian Garcia drives past Nixyáawii’s Tyasin Burns in the Vikings’
61-57 win against the Golden Eagles on Friday in Mission.
shots your supposed to shoot ... He
came in the second half and decided
to take the shots and he did it really
well.”
Umatilla finished with four play-
ers in double figures including Cran-
ston, followed by Trent Durfey
with 15 points, Kaden Webb with
12 points, and Uriel Garcia with 11
points. Durfey led the team with eight
rebounds and Garcia had six, while
Webb led with five assists.
GIRLS: For most prep basketball
teams, the non-league portion of the
schedule is for teams to learn how
to come together to be at their best
come time for league play and the
postseason. However, the Nixyaawii
girls basketball team has proved there
is no early-season learning curve as
the defending 1A state champs have
cruised to eight straight wins to start
the season.
Friday night cruise control was
still in effect for Nixyaawii, as they
used a smothering defense and fast-
paced offense to thump the Umatilla
Vikings 78-29 to remain undefeated.
Nixyaawii has now scored at least 63
points in all nine games this season,
and are averaging 71.3 points per
game, a testament to the talent and
experience of the group.
Nixyaawii’s big three of Mary
Stewart, Milan Schimmel and Kait-
lynn Melton were excellent again on
Friday as they combined for 57 of the
team’s 78 points.
The game was all Golden Eagles
(9-0) as they led 24-5 after the first
eight minutes were played. Nixy-
aawii used a 2-2-1 full-court press
for most of the first quarter, helping
force 10 Umatilla (3-7) turnovers
before falling off into a match-up 2-3
zone for the remainder of the game.
Overall, Nixyaawii forced 30 Uma-
tilla turnovers and turned a numerous
amount of those into points.
Umatilla’s best quarter came in the
second when they scored 14 points on
6-of-15 shooting to make it a 45-19
game at the break. But in the second
half, the Golden Eagles’ defense kept
the Vikings from getting many good
looks at the basket and by the time
they did, the rhythm was gone and
shots couldn’t seem to fall. Umatilla
shot just 4-of-22 from the floor in the
second half.
Lauryn Journot led the Vikings
with nine points, Charlene Alvarez
had eight points and Katelyn Lorence
added five points.
Both teams now get a few days off
for Christmas break before getting
back into the swing of things next
week.
NEXT UP: Umatilla will head
to Salem to play in the Salem Acad-
emy Tournament, first against West-
ern Mennonite on Thursday.
SCOREBOARD
Knights defeat Tigers to stay perfect
IRRIGON — Irrigon seniors
Eric Carillo and Johnny Phillips and
junior Keith Fleming all netted 15
points apiece on Thursday to down
the Stanfield Tigers 74-49, keeping
the Knights unbeaten on the season.
“We had a really good first half,
played good defense,” head coach
Davie Salas said.
But after the break, Stanfield
made some adjustments and opened
with a 23-point performance in the
third quarter.
Irrigon was able to maintain its
lead and hold off the Tigers (6-6) to
remain a perfect 9-0 on the season.
Leading Stanfield was senior
Brody Woods with 12 points.
Stanfield won’t take the court
again until the new year when it
travels to Umatilla on Jan. 4. River-
side will have some time off as well
before it joins a handful of other
local teams in the Irrigon Invite
beginning Thursday.
GIRLS: Kylie Wyant and Ana
Zacarias each scored a game-high
16 points to lead the Irrigon Knights
52-18 over the Stanfield Tigers on
Thursday night.
Wyant scored all 16 points in the
second half and added six rebounds
for the Knights (10-1), while Ana
Zacarias added 10 steals with her
points. Jessica Wallace led the
Tigers (1-11) with 10 points and
made a pair of 3-pointers.
Irrigon’s win did come with
some bad news, though, as senior
guard Alyia Munoz suffered a bro-
ken collarbone in the first quarter
and will likely miss the remainder
of the season. Star senior guard Jada
Burns also missed Thursday’s game
due to illness.
Irrigon hosts Waitsburg (WA) on
Thursday. Stanfield heads to Uma-
tilla on Jan. 4.
Horizon Christian sinks Echo
ECHO — Horizon Christian
shot 47 percent from the floor and
hit eight 3-pointers to help sink the
Echo Cougars 64-44 on Thursday.
Morgan Marcum led the Cou-
gars (3-6) with 15 points on 7-of-12
shooting, while Devan Craig and Ty
Mulder each had 11. Derek John-
ston led the Hawks with 23 points
and 11 rebounds and Caleb Lingel
added 20 points.
Echo plays Ione on Dec. 28 at
the Bouncin’ Cancer fundraiser in
Helix.
GIRLS: The Cougars were
handed another tough loss this
week, this time at the hands of Hori-
zon Christian.
The Hawks’ 44-25 win was
thanks to a strong second half per-
formance. Senior Alexis Ruiz led
the charge with a game-high 18
points.
The Cougars (3-5) weren’t about
to get into double digits, and their
top scorer was junior Lexie Cox
with eight points.
Echo will try to snap its skid next
week at the Bouncin’ Cancer bas-
ketball event at Helix.
Local slate
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Thursday
Ione vs. Echo (at Helix), 1:30 p.m.
Riverside at Stevenson (WA), 5 p.m.
Silverton at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
Waitsburg (WA) at Irrigon, 7:30 p.m.
Umatilla vs. TBD (At Salem Acadmey), TBD
Friday
Echo vs. Trout Lake (WA) (at Helix), 1:30 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Irrigon, 7:30 p.m.
Hermiston at Crescent Valley, 7:30 p.m.
Umatilla vs. TBD (at Salem Academy), TBD
Saturday
Hermiston vs. Central (at Crescent Valley), 2:30
p.m.
South Wasco at Echo, 4:30 p.m.
Umatilla vs. TBD (at Salem Academy), TBD
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Wednesday
Hermiston vs. Oregon City (at Lake Oswego),
7 p.m.
Thursday
Ione vs. Echo (at Helix), Noon
Riverside at Stevenson (WA), 3:30 p.m.
Waitsburg (WA) at Irrigon, 6 p.m.
Umatilla vs. Western Mennonite (at Salem
Academy), 8 p.m.
Hermiston at Lake Oswego Nike Shootout, TBD
Friday
Trout Lake (WA) vs. Echo (at Helix), Noon
Pilot Rock at Irrigon, 6 p.m.
Hermiston at Lake Oswego Nike Shootout, TBD
Umatilla at Salem Academy Tournament, TBD
Saturday
South Wasco at Echo, 3 p.m.
Hermiston at Lake Oswego Nike Shootout, TBD
Umatilla at Salem Academy Tournament, TBD