A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, FEbRuARy 6, 2019
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DAWGS POST HUGE WINS
20-15. Of Hermiston’s 15 points,
10 belonged to James, who fin-
ished the game with 12.
Ramirez had 10 of his points
in the second quarter as the teams
were tied at 35-35 at the half.
Steven Westermeyer hit two
threes in the second quarter for
Kamiakin and finished with 14
points.
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
W
hen there’s something
you want, you have to go
out and get it.
The Hermiston boys did just
that on Jan. 29, knocking off Kami-
akin 67-64 in Mid-Columbia Con-
ference action to keep pace with
the Braves for the top seed to the
regional tournament.
“Coming off two straight losses,
it was senior night and we have
been playing together for so many
years,” Ryne Andreason said of the
urgency to win. “This is the biggest
win this season.”
The Bulldogs (13-6 overall) also
had their hands full Tuesday with
Kamiakin, who handed Hermiston
a 67-51 loss the first time around.
Cole Smith, in his first start this
season, scored 10 of his 13 points
in the third quarter as the Bulldogs
held a 50-47 lead going into the
fourth.
“He can play,” Arstein said of
Smith. “He picked his spots. He
was very crafty.”
In the fourth, the Braves tied the
scored quickly at 50-50, and the
teams were tied at 58-all with less
than 2 minutes to play.
Jordan Ramirez hit a big
3-pointer with 1:39 to play to give
the Bulldogs a 61-58 lead.
“That 3 was huge,” said
Ramirez, who finished with a
career-high 19 points. “I told them
I was feeling it. Andrew (James)
drove it in, kicked it out, and bam.
We had a good practice on Monday
and the crowd got into it for us.”
Andreason, who scored 15
points, hit a bucket with 40 sec-
onds left for a 63-58 lead, only to
see Messiah Jones convert a three-
point play at the other end to make
it 63-61.
Andreason made two free
throws with 23 seconds remaining,
and two more with 13 seconds left
to put the game out of reach, 67-61.
“I was a little nervous, but I was
confident,” Andreason said of the
free throws. “You have to block
everything out — just you and the
hoop.”
Trey Arland drained a 3-pointer
from the left baseline with 6 sec-
onds left, but the Braves ran out of
time.
“It was a game of runs and mis-
matches,” said Arstein, whose
team could not match the height
of the Braves. “They are huge and
Hermiston at Walla Walla
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Cole Smith draws contact from Kamiakin’s Kyson Rose in the Bulldogs’ 67-64 win against the Braves
on Jan. 29 in Hermiston.
we are small. We knew they were
going to try and pound it inside. We
handled the game well. We pushed
the tempo. Eight guys played hard
together and never gave up on
plays. They stuck together.”
The Braves got 11 points from
6-foot-8 Kyson Rose in the first
half, and the 6-6 Jones chipped in
19 points on the night as Kami-
akin was able to get some easy bas-
kets inside. Rose finished with 18
points.
Jones scored six of his points in
the first quarter as the Braves led
Jordan Ramirez made a layup in
the waning seconds to lead Herm-
iston to a 66-64 Mid-Columbia
Conference road win Friday over
Walla Walla.
The victory gave the Bulldogs
(14-6 overall, 10-6 MCC) the top
seed to the 3A district playoffs, and
will host the winner of Tuesday’s
Kennewick-North Central game at
7 p.m. Friday.
“We will take the No. 1 seed any
day of the week,” Hermiston coach
Casey Arstein said.
Ramirez scored eight of his
career-high 26 points in the fourth
quarter as the Bulldogs went on
an 18-12 run to pull even with the
Blue Devils, and eventually pull
out the win.
“Tonight was Jordan’s night,”
Arstein said. “The guys were able
to make some big plays on the
defensive end. It was a solid team
effort.”
Ryne Andreason hit a 3-pointer
at 5:55 of the fourth quarter to tie
the score at 54-54. The Bulldogs
had a 64-62 lead with 22.3 seconds
remaining, but Dylan Sullivan hit a
pair of free throws with 12.5 sec-
onds left to even things up.
Ramirez then converted the
game-winning layup and was
fouled, but he missed the free
throw.
The Bulldogs trailed 12-3 early
in the opening quarter, and 23-13 at
the end. Hermiston cut into Walla
Walla’s lead in the second with a
23-16 run to trail 39-36 at the half.
“We didn’t help ourselves out in
the first quarter,” Arstein said. “We
made up for it by playing hard and
attacking the rim.”
Andreason had 10 of his 17
points in the second quarter, while
Ramirez had nine.
BOX SCORE
Kamiakin 20 15 12 17 — 64
Hermiston 15 20 15 17 — 67
KAMIAKIN — Westermeyer 14, Jones 19, Nichols 4,
Arland 9, Rose 18.
HERMISTON — Andreason 15, Ortiz 3, James 12,
Smith 13, Davis 2, Madrigal 2, Ramirez 19, Men-
dez 1.
Kamiakin fends off feisty Bulldogs
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
The first time Hermiston
played Kamiakin in Mid-Co-
lumbia Conference play,
the Braves ran away with a
62-26 victory.
The Bulldogs were not
going to let that happen
again.
Jordan Thomas had 20
points, and Jazlyn Romero
11 as Hermiston hung tough
with Kamiakin the entire
game Tuesday before falling
47-41.
“They didn’t play a great
game, but that helped us a lit-
tle,” Hermiston coach Juan
Rodriguez said of Kamiakin.
“A lot of things I wanted to
see us improve on, we did.
Where we struggled was
turning the ball over and they
got some shots.”
The Braves, behind nine
points from Alexa Hazel,
took a 17-11 lead at the end
of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs turned to
Thomas in the second. She
scored eight of her game-
high 20 points in the quar-
ter as the Bulldogs went on
a 12-4 run to enjoy a 23-21
lead at the half.
“We came out and exe-
cuted our game plan,”Rodri-
guez said. “We did a good
job of establishing Jordan in
the first half.”
While
the
6-foot-4
Thomas was a threat on
offense, she also created
problems for the Braves on
defense.
It was Kamiakin with a
10-4 run in the third quar-
ter as the Braves retook the
lead 31-27 heading into the
fourth.
The Braves led by 11
points with 4:32 to play in
the game as Oumou Toure
grabbed an offensive rebound
and put the ball in the basket.
Hermiston climbed back
into the game with five con-
secutive free throws to pull
within 40-34, and a three-
point play by Thomas had the
Bulldogs within 43-39 with
28 seconds to play.
Kamiakin made 4 of 6
free throws the final 26 sec-
onds of game to hold on for
the win.
“In the second half, they
did not fold,” Schumacher
said of Hermiston. “They
were always just a couple of
possessions away. Hats off to
them, they battled all night.”
Hazel led the Braves with
17 points, while Symone
Brown added 12 and Toure
11.
Hermiston at Walla
Walla
Hermiston held Walla
Walla to three points in the
second half — all free throws
— to rally for a 50-32 victory
Friday over the host Blue
Devils.
“I think the plan for us
was to play well going into
the playoffs,” Hermiston
coach Juan Rodriguez said.
“They came out and played
good defense in the second
half.”
The Bulldogs (8-12 over-
all, 6-10 MCC) played at
North Central Tuesday night
in the first round of the Dis-
trict 8 playoffs.
Walla Walla took a 13-11
lead after the first quarter,
and led 29-25 at the half.
Mia Huxoll scored six of her
team-high seven points in the
first quarter.
Jordan Thomas scored 10
of her game-high 26 points
in the second quarter for the
Bulldogs, while Jayden Ray
led the charge in the third
with eight of her 11 points.
“Honestly, it was a quiet
26 points,” Rodriguez said of
the 6-foot-4 Thomas. “They
would double her, but she
found different ways to score.
I was pleased with that.”
box Score
Kamiakin 17 4 10 17 — 47
Hermiston 11 12 4 14 — 41
KAMIAKIN — brown 12, Reg.Clark 7, Ry.
Clark 1, Hazel 17, Toure 11.
HERMISTON — Ray 4, byrd 2, Stefani 1,
Hernandez 3, Romero 11, Thomas 20
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Jayden Ray shoots the ball over Kamiakin’s Rylia
Clark in the Bulldogs’ 47-41 loss to the Braves on Jan. 29 in
Hermiston.