WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A11
SPORTS
Vikings claim top spot in EOL
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
STAFF WRITER
UMATILLA — For the
second straight year, mem-
bers of the Umatilla boys
basketball team climbed
atop a ladder to cut down
the net commemorating
its Eastern Oregon League
championship.
Last year, the Vikings
sealed the deal with a 68-52
win over Vale. This year,
they dominated early, came
back from a third-quarter
lull and pulled off a 61-44
victory against Burns.
“(When) you win back-
to-back league champs it’s
an awesome feeling to be
the senior group to do that,”
Kaden Webb said. Webb
was one of six seniors hon-
ored before Umatilla’s final
regular season home game.
But in the same breath
that Webb spoke praises for
the team’s effort Saturday
evening, he admitted the
celebration would need to
be a quick one.
“At the end of the day,
you have to move on,”
Webb added. “You cele-
brate it in the moment but
next week we have got to
move on to district, then get
ready for the state playoff
game, so the road doesn’t
stop here, you’ve got to
keep going.”
As the Vikings (20-5
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Umatilla’s Sebastian Garcia lauches himself toward the
basket despite pressure from two Burns defenders during
Saturday’s Eastern Oregon League game.
overall, 8-2 EOL) would
have it, they will be heading
into the postseason riding a
five-game win streak.
Umatilla opened the
game with a staggering 22-8
lead after the first quarter
capped off by two consec-
utive 3-points from Webb.
He was responsible for 10
of those first-quarter points,
and he ended the game lead-
ing all scorers with 20.
“During timeouts, there
was really nothing to tell
the kids but to keep work-
ing hard and doing what
they were doing because
there were no adjustments,”
head coach Scott Bow said.
BOYS
continued from Page A10
Both teams took care of
the ball in the half with only
five combined turnovers,
and were matching shot-
for-shot on field goals as
Hermiston shot 38 percent
(11 for 29) and Pendleton
42 percent (11 for 26). In
the locker room, Ortiz said
the Bulldogs simply talked
about continuing the type
of play that had helped the
Bulldogs earn the halftime
advantage.
“Just limiting our turn-
overs and being patient with
the ball,” Ortiz recalled.
“We knew that was going to
win us the game and that’s
what we did, and we came
away with (the win).”
In the second half,
Hermiston’s defense tight-
ened up and Pendleton’s
offense simply dried up,
especially from deep. The
Buckaroos (12-9, 4-2) were
4 for 8 from three in the first
half, but finished 3 for 15 in
the second half, including a
stretch of 10 straight misses
between the third and fourth
quarters.
Pendleton fought back
to re-take a 37-36 lead
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Pendleton’s Ryan Russell and Jordan Ramirez, of Hermiston,
battle for a rebound during Friday’s game at Warberg Court.
with 4:09 left in the game
after two technical fouls
on Hermiston’s Jordan
Ramirez and the team’s
bench sent Buckaroos’
Dakota Sams to the free
throw line where he made
three off the four shots. But
that would be the Bucka-
roos’ only lead of the half
as Hermiston tied it back
up at 39-39 just 30 seconds
later and then took back the
lead 42-39 on a 3-pointer by
Ortiz with 3:10 left.
Hermiston’s lead was
only six with two minutes
left, but as Pendleton still
couldn’t buy a bucket they
had to resort to fouling the
Bulldogs and taking their
chances with the Dawgs’
free-throw shooting. And
the Bulldogs followed
through, as they nailed
10-of-13 shots in the fourth
quarter and 16-of-22 for the
game, which grew the lead
and helped seal the victory.
“I’m proud of the guys,”
Hermiston coach Casey
Arstein said. “We played
good at times and average
at times, but the kids stuck
The shots kept falling in
the second, again Webb hit a
three to extend the Vikings’
lead to 30-10. Fellow senior
Moises Garcilazo chipped
in a 3-pointer second early,
and would score five of his
seven total points in the
second.
The Vikings entered the
locker room at halftime up
36-17, and had everything
going their way.
As Umatilla prepared to
come back out to the court
and dominate, Burns was
working on its own adjust-
ments to vie for a league
championship itself.
The Hilanders outscored
Umatilla 13-4 in the third
quarter, and kept chipping
away at their deficit little by
little.
Sophomore Dakota Ceja
hit two 3-pointers two min-
utes apart to keep Burns
within striking distance.
But in no time, the
Vikings’ shots began to
fall again and they even-
tually put enough distance
between themselves and the
Hilanders.
“Any time we’ve been
down, we rallied every sin-
gle time so there were no
worries that way in the third
quarter,” Bow said. “In the
end, we made adjustments,
(the kids) did what they
were supposed to and took
care of business.”
together and that was huge.
I just thought it was a great
team effort and the guys
stayed positive.”
Andrew Earl made his
first start of the season
for Hermiston in place of
Ramirez, who is battling an
injury, and played well with
14 points with a pair of first
quarter 3-pointers. Adrian
Mendez also gave Hermis-
ton a big 11 points, with six
of that coming in the fourth
quarter.
“A lot of our guys
stepped up tonight and
we’re pretty happy with
that,” Ortiz said.
Arstein knows that the
Bulldogs can’t afford to
get too confident following
Friday’s win. Next up is a
home tilt with The Dalles,
a team that knocked off the
Bulldogs just seven days
prior.
“We only have a couple
days to rest until Tuesday
with The Dalles, and we’re
1-1 with them so we have
our work cut out for us,”
Arstein said. “But hope-
fully when we see Pend-
leton again at home again,
it’ll possibly be playing for
a conference championship.
But right now, we have to
just take it one game at a
time.”
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Jordan Thomas and Pendleton’s Kalan
McGlothan go up for a rebound Friday in Pendleton.
GIRLS
continued from Page A10
This is when Pendleton
needed another big play.
The Bucks (15-6 overall,
6-0 Columbia River Con-
ference) got it from senior
Maureen Davies. Davies
was fouled hard at half court,
and at the charity stripe made
her two free throws. On the
ensuing play, Davies tow-
ered over the Bulldogs for
a big-time blocked shot on
Thomas that fellow senior
Rylee Gentner secured.
To seal the game-winning
score, another senior — one
of five on the roster — Hal-
lie Porter, knocked down
a jumper in front of Pend-
leton’s bench that sent the
crowd into a frenzy.
With the win, the Bucks
have all but secured their
place atop the league stand-
ings. Only three games
remain on the regular sea-
son schedule, ending with
one final matchup against
the Bulldogs (8-13, 4-2) in
Hermiston.
The Bulldogs hit four of
their six total 3-pointers in
the third quarter, and went
on a 17-4 run to pull within
one point of the Bucks. It
was Hermiston’s first chance
claim its only lead of the
game, and three plays later
it did.
Thompson hit a three to
put Hermiston up 38-36 with
only 15 seconds before the
fourth quarter.
The half time coaching
that worked was less of a
message and more of a much
needed adjustment.
“It was more of letting
them compose themselves,”
Hermiston head coach Juan
Rodriguez said. “It’s a big
game and they were out
shooting not within our
offense and they were a lit-
tle unfocused defensively. It
was just a matter of refocus-
ing, making sure we were in
the right defensive spots and
making sure we were in our
motion offense, executing.”
The Bulldogs were able
to do just that and held the
Bucks to single digits for
almost the entire third quar-
ter. But as the clock ticked
down, Pendleton didn’t hes-
itate to fire back and senior
Hallie Porter answered with
a three of her own as the
buzzer sounded.
Pendleton only gave up
its lead once in the final
quarter, again behind the
efforts of Thompson, but
the Bucks went on to play
sound, focused offense —
hitting all of their 11 free
throw attempts — and in
the final minutes, aggressive
defense.
Hermiston was led by
Thompson, but also received
help from senior Maddy
Juul — who played her most
minutes and best game since
returning to the floor from a
knee injury that has plagued
her final year. Juul hit Herm-
iston’s first two threes in the
third quarter to help spark its
long run.
Stefani ended that run,
and hit a three of her own
which was the shot that gave
the Bulldogs their first lead.
Stefani has been a reliable
player off the bench, and put
up nine points in Hermis-
ton’s last outing — the sec-
ond best team performance.
“Everybody who came
off the bench did a good
job,” Rodriguez said. “(Syd-
ney) came off the bench
tonight and gave us a little
bit of a spark as well with the
scoring.”
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