A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018
Herald Sports
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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.