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A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018 Herald Sports Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports Irrigon snaps drought Umatilla HERMISTON VS. PENDLETON By ERIC SINGER STAFF WRITER PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston’s Maddy Juul shoots the ball between Pendleton defenders Hunter Kiele (30) and Josie Wilson in the Bulldogs’ game against the Bucks on Tuesday in Hermiston. Scores for the girls’ and boys’ games were not available by press time. Check HermistonHerald.com for stories about both games. Hermiston earns narrow victory on the road Hermiston wins lone dual meet HERMISTON HERALD By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ AND ERIC SINGER STAFF WRITER At Hood River, Hermiston overcame a sloppy first half in Hood River and defeated the Eagles 77-74 on Friday night. “We’ll take the win on the road,” head coach Casey Arstein said. “It was a good team effort.” Junior Ryne Andreason led the Bulldogs (7-9 overall, 2-0 CRC) with 17 points. Sopho- more Andrew Earl followed with 15. Junior Cesar Ortiz ended the night with 14, and Ramirez pitched in 12. The Eagles (5-12, 0-2) opened the game with a 17-10 lead behind one of their top scor- ers of the night, senior Jonah Tactay — who had six points in the first quarter, and finished with 12 behind junior Carson Flores (18). Hermiston began to turn things around in the second quarter, scoring 22 points to cut its deficit to 33-32 at the break. Hood River came out and knocked down 25 third-quar- ter points, but the Bulldogs responded with 29 of their own in the fourth quarter to take and hold their lead. The Bulldogs returned home Tuesday to host the Pendleton Buckaroos. Results of the game were not available at press time. HERMISTON — The Herm- iston wrestling team hosted its lone dual meet of the year as Hood River Valley came to town Wednesday night. With a few mar- quee bouts in the lineup, the Bull- dogs and Eagles were poised to put on a show, and they did not disappoint. Hermiston, the historically dominant wrestling team on this side of the state, was up early. A couple pins from the heavyweight class, two forfeits and a win by fall in the 113-pound division gave the Bulldogs an early 27-3 lead. But Hood River claimed three of the four next bouts to cut the deficit to 27-21. The Bulldogs needed a final push, and got that when senior Adrian Tuia (145) took the mat. He was pitted against Cade Parker and Parker kept things close for the first two rounds. Tuia got out to an early 4-1 lead after earning four takedown points with Parker getting only one for an escape. The scored stayed in Tuia’s favor at 4-1 through the sec- ond round. Then, after notching two points on a reversal, Tuia ran away with the bout to win by a 8-2 decision. Three more Hermiston victories IRRIGON — With the Irri- gon Knights grasping on to a two-point lead with only three seconds left, Knights forward Johnny Phillips nervously watched Umatilla’s Kaden Webb launch a half-court heave as the final seconds of the game ticked away. The shot looked good as it flew through the air, before it clanked off the back- board and the side of the rim as the buzzer sounded, clinching a 50-48 Irrigon victory in front of a boisterous crowd on Thursday night at Irrigon High School. “I was nervous for sure,” an elated Phillips said afterward. “It took me a couple of sec- onds to register, but I’m glad it missed.” It was a long-awaited cel- ebration for the Knights, who had lost four straight to the rival Vikings dating back to last sea- son. The Vikings handed the Knights their first loss of the season just 13 days ago on Jan. 12, and Thursday night was a game they were looking for- ward to. “It feels really good,” Phil- lips said. “We had to work hard and play good defense tonight. We knew it was going to be a tough one, but we did what we needed to and came out with the win and we’re excited about that.” The 6-foot-5 Phillips has been the Knights’ (17-2 overall, 6-1 EOL) go-to guy on offense but was held scoreless in the first half as Irrigon trailed 18-16 at the break. However, in the second half Phillips pounded in 16 points, eight of Irrigon’s last 11, to lead the charge to victory. He also added 11 rebounds and three blocks to his line. “I just couldn’t get a handle in that first half,” Phillips said of his night, “but I came out better in the second. I finally got my feet under me and got going.” Both teams’ defenses con- trolled the game in the first half, as the Knights and Vikings (15- 5, 3-2) combined to shoot just 12 for 45 (26 percent) from the floor with 18 turnovers for 34 points. The second half, though, played out completely different as the offenses took over with 64 combined points and just 10 turnovers. There were seven lead changes and seven ties in the second half, with the Knights holding the lead for the final 2:42. SCHEDULE Local slate STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston’s A.J. Tuia attempts to pin Hood River’s Tristen Keely in the Bulldogs’ dual-meet win against the Eagles on Wednesday in Hermiston. followed to give the Bulldogs the 45-21 win. Two freshmen, Tyler Wagner (152) and Daniel Faaeteete (160), drew some of the loudest cheers from the crowd. First up was Wagner, who faced Hood River’s Tristan Keely. After a dislocated finger on Keely’s hand and a bloody nose that ended up saving Wagner from getting pinned, the Bulldog ground it out for nearly the entire six minutes before winning by fall in 5:03. “He could have easily, as a freshman, put his head down and got pinned ... right there but he fought and fought and fought and fought until the blood got him off his back,” head coach Kyle Larson said. Faaeteete was close to pinning his competition just 41 seconds into the bout, but opponent Tan- ner Fletcher got the reversal to cut the score to 3-2 after round one. A reversal for Faaeteete, another for Fletcher, a near fall here, some more reversals there. But the score con- tinued to give Faaeteete the advan- tage, as he was up 12-8 entering the final round. Fletcher got within one point, with 23 seconds left and was threatening a comeback win but a final point for a late escape gave Faaeteete a 14-12 win by decision. PREP BOYS BASKETBALL Friday Stanfield at Culver, 6 p.m. Hermiston at The Dalles, 7 p.m. Irrigon at Burns, 7:30 p.m. Umatilla at Nyssa, 7:30 p.m. Riverside at Vale, 7:30 p.m. Heppner at Weston-McEwen, 7:30 p.m. Saturday Culver at Heppner, 4 p.m. Umatilla at Vale, 4:30 p.m. Powder Valley at Echo, 5 p.m. Irrigon at Nyssa, 6:30 p.m. Riverside at Burns, 6:30 p.m. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL Friday Stanfield at Culver, 4:30 p.m. Irrigon at Burns, 6 p.m. Umatilla at Nyssa, 6 p.m. Riverside at Vale, 6 p.m. Heppner at Weston-McEwen, 6 p.m. The Dalles at Hermiston, 7 p.m. Saturday Umatilla at Vale, 3 p.m. Culver at Heppner, 4 p.m. Irrigon at Nyssa, 5 p.m. Riverside at Burns, 5 p.m. Powder Valley at Echo, 5:30 p.m. PREP WRESTLING Wednesday Hermiston at Pendleton, 7 p.m. Saturday Riverside, Irrigon, Echo at District Tournament (Boardman), 10 a.m. Heppner at District Tournament (Jo- seph), 10 a.m.