Umatilla's Davis Raymond drives to the key while playing Vale on Feb 3, 2024, in Umatilla.

UMATILLA — Micheal Montez had 25 points, and Umatilla moved to the top of the Eastern Oregon League standings with a 60-48 victory over No. 6 Vale on Saturday, Feb. 3.

“I need to give credit to my players for working hard and playing through a tough schedule,” Umatilla coach Scott Bow said. “They went through a set of games playing five games in eight days, with four of those games against teams ranked in the top 12. With very little time to prepare for each team, the kids have been very coachable and are able to adjust to new game plans.

Umatilla (15-6 overall, 6-1 EOL) came out on fire in the first quarter, taking a 24-14 lead behind 10 points from Montez, and six from Mike McGee.

The Vikings pushed their lead to 34-19 at the half, and Vale tried to get back in the game with a 14-8 run in the third quarter, but it wouldn’t be enough.

McGee added 12 points and seven, while David Garcia added nine points, five steals and three assists.

Montez said he was proud of the way the team played.

“The was everyone rose to the occasion and executed the game plan that coach gave us,” he said.

Junior RJ Estrada, who added five points, three rebounds and three assists, said executing the game plan was key.

“Even though the third quarter was tough, we still managed to keep the lead, and we did just enough in the fourth to pull away,” Estrada said. “I think the hustle plays helped us a lot to win the game.”

Colten Stepleton had 17 points for Vale (13-8, 6-2), which was 6-0 in league play before losing to Riverside on Friday.

RIVERSIDE 35, BURNS 33 — The Pirates were a little quiet in the scoring department, but they had just enough points to hand the visiting Hilanders an Eastern Oregon League loss.

Burns (13-7 overall, 2-6 EOL) held a 20-18 lead at the half, but the Pirates took a 27-25 lead in the third. Each team had eight points in the fourth as Riverside held on for the win.

Cooper Cemore led the Pirates (19-4, 5-3) wth nine points, while Riley Lantis had seven and Izaak Mendoza six.

Zane Perry-Kozeni led the Hilanders with 14 points, while Jack Wright added eight.

MCLOUGHLIN 42, NYSSA 38 — The Pioneers used a 22-15 run in the second half to rally for an Eastern Oregon League home win over the Bulldogs.

Nyssa (5-16 overall, 0-8 EOL) had a slim 23-20 lead at the half before the Pioneers took over.

Alejandro Sandoval led Mac-Hi (12-6, 4-3) with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Rajdeep Singh added 12 points, and Giovanny Sandoval seven points and seven rebounds.

Francisco Miranda led Nyssa with 14 points, while Tony Gomeza added 11.

STANFIELD 71, ENTERPRISE 43 — Landon Bailey had 20 points, and Pablo Arellano added 19 to lead the Tigers to a Blue Mountain Conference road win over the Outlaws and run their win streak to 13 games.

Stanfield (14-5 overall, 9-0 BMC) took a 29-20 lead at the half, then expanded its lead to 54-31 after three quarters. Arellano scored eight of his points in the fourth quarter as the Tigers shut the door on the Outlaws.

Tyler Knapp led Enterprise (1309, 3-6) with 13 points, with Isaac Bedard adding eight.

GRANT UNION 88, WESTON-MCEWEN 72 — Baryn Huerta had 26 points, and the Prospectors completed a sweep of the TigerScots with a Blue Mountain Conference home win.

Dylan Monaco and Lokaa Tso each had six points in the first quarter as W-M got out to a 25-23 lead. Grant Union turned the tables in the second with a 20-14 run for a 43-39 lead at the half.

The Prospectors went on a 31-23 run in the fourth quarter, fueled by 11 points from Lukas Blood, to seal the win.

Monaco led the TigerScots (9-14 overall, 4-5 BMC) with 19 points and six assists, while Anthony Nix added 17 points, four rebounds and four steals, and Caleb Sprenger 13 points and five rebounds.

Blood finished with 22 points, while Talon Van Cleave added 14 for GU (13-8, 4-4).

ECHO 79, ELGIN 40 — Dom Curiel lit the nets on fire, scoring a season-high 40 points to lead the Cougars to an Old Oregon League home win over the Huskies.

Curiel scored 15 of his points in the third quarter as Echo (13-9 overall, 5-4 OOL) went on a 26-7 scoring spree for a 63-34 lead.

Mack Murdock added 15 points for Echo, while Jack Sperr added 10, including a perfect 7-for-7 performance at the free-throw line.

Parker Caldwell led Elgin (4-16, 2-6) with 15 points, while James Cupp chipped in nine.

PILOT ROCK 55, GRISWOLD 18 — Chase Corwin poured in 30 points as the Rockets cruised to an Old Oregon League road win over the Grizzlies.

Pilot Rock (9-12, 3-5) ran its win streak to three games with the win.

Pace Raymond led the Grizzlies (2-17, 0-8) with seven points, while Ethan Reeder added six.

Girls basketball

CHIAWANA 98, HERMISTON 58 — The Riverhawks improved to 13-3 in the Mid-Columbia Conference standings with a dominating home win over the Bulldogs.

Each team scored 18 points in the first quarter, and the Riverhawks pulled away in the second for a 44-34 lead at the half.

It would be the third quarter that buried the Bulldogs as the Riverhawks went on a 33-13 run for a 77-47 lead.

Lucy Teegarden led the Bulldogs (6-9) with 17 points, with Izzy Simmons adding 16 points and five rebounds, and Ellie Heideman nine points.

Mia Tijerina came off the bench to lead the Riverhawks with 21 points, while Kaia Foster added 20 points and seven rebounds, and Malia Ruud had 18 points, six rebounds and five assists.

WESTON-MCEWEN 46, GRANT UNION 25 — The TigerScots took a nine-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back in a Blue Mountain Conference road win over the Prospectors.

Kelsey Graham and Jayden Sparks each had nine points for W-M (20-4 overall, 7-2 BMC), while Charlotte Hansell and Kylie Kramer each had eight.

Rillie Mitchell led GU (1-20, 0-8) with eight points, while Brianna Sharp added five.

STANFIELD 36, ENTERPRISE 31 — The Tigers held a seemingly comfortable lead through three quarters, but had to fend off the Outlaws in the fourth for a Blue Mountain Conference road win.

“It got exciting,” Stanfield coach Dan Sharp said. “Good thing we blanked them out in the first quarter.”

The Tigers moved into a tie for first in the league standings with Enterprise at 7-2.

Stanfield (14-5 overall) led 9-0 after the first quarter, and 19-6 at the half. The Tigers’ lead ballooned to 31-15 after three quarters, but the Outlaws (14-8) went on a 16-5 run in the fourth to make things interesting.

Kahleigha Haney and Mazie Reeser each had 12 points for the Tigers, while Kayla Monkus added nine.

Nevaeh James scored nine of her 11 points in the fourth quarter for the Outlaws. Alex Rowley added nine points.

NYSSA 37, MCLOUGHLIN 30 — The Bulldogs overcame an early deficit for an Eastern Oregon League road win over the Pioneers.

Mac-Hi (6-13 overall, 1-6 EOL) had a 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Bulldogs went on a 15-3 run in the second to take an 18-13 lead.

Nyssa (15-7, 7-1) went on a 19-17 run in the second half to stay one step ahead of the Pioneers.

Madi Perkins led Mac-Hi with 13 points, while Lainie Ellis added eight.

Clarita Sanchez led the Bulldogs with 15 points, while Morgan Johns added eight.

VALE 66, UMATILLA 21 — Hailey Cleaver had a game-high 21 points to lead Vale to an Eastern Oregon League road win over Umatilla.

Vale (19-2) remained perfect in league play at 8-0, and ran its win streak to 10 games.

Vale jumped out to a 20-4 lead after the first quarter, and extended its lead to 37-8 at the half.

Braelyn Cragun led Umatilla with six points, while three players had four points each.

Kesley Stepleton added 14 points for Vale.

BURNS 48, RIVERSIDE 16 — Ashley Wright had 17 points to lead the Hilanders to an Eastern Oregon League road win over the Pirates.

Burns got out to a 25-6 lead at the half and was never challenged.

Crystal Sanchez led Riverside with eight points, five rebounds and two steals. Deisy Zavala hauled down six rebounds and had six steals, and Brianna Thomas had eight rebounds.

IONE/ARLINGTON 55, SPRAY/MITCHELL/WHEELER 39 — Najiah Knight had 15 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Cardinals to a Big Sky League road win over the Rattlers.

The Cardinals (13-6 overall, 9-2 BSL) held a 24-23 lead at the half, then pulled away down the stretch with a 31-16 run in the second half.

Grace Claughton added 12 points for I/A, while Victoria De La Torre added 12.

Morgan Cole-Hand led the Rattlers (13-7, 6-4) with 18 points, while Jaelle Fischer chipped in 11.

ECHO 48, ELGIN 28 — The Cougars used a big first half to post an Old Oregon League home win over the Huskies.

Echo, which is tied with Union atop the OOL standings at 8-1, led 24-7 at the half, and Mayela De La Fuente scored nine of her 13 points in the fourth quarter as the Cougars kept the pressure on down the stretch.

Nevaeh Thew added 12 points for the Cougars (16-5), while Kenzie Hendrix had eight points.

Lydia Hasbell led the Huskies (9-11, 5-3) with 11 points.

GRISWOLD 48, PILOT ROCK 40 — The Grizzlies pick up their first Old Oregon League win with a road win over the Rockets.

“It’s a great feeling getting a league win,” Griswold coach Kevin Porter said. “This game was a tale of two halves. We didn’t exactly come ready to play in the first half. Pilot Rock did a good job of exploiting our weaknesses early in the game.”

The Rockets (4-16 overall, 0-8 OOL) jumped out to a 22-11 lead at the half behind eight points by Ali Smith.

The Grizzlies (7-12, 1-7) came to life in the third quarter, scoring 23 points, with Ellie Morris leading the way with eight points, for a 34-30 lead. Griswold kept the pressure on in the fourth with a 14-10 run.

“The third quarter was a completely different team for us,” Porter said. “They took the halftime message and found the motivation they needed to get back to playing the way we played against Union two nights ago. Ellie had a very nice game for us and is really developing into a good point guard. She hit some very clutch shots for us down the stretch that helped us hold onto our lead.”

Morris led the Grizzlies with 14 points, with Saige Jensen adding 11 and Annika Holden nine.

Smith led the Rockets with 17 points, while Paedyn Bennett chipped in nine.

Bowling

Hermiston’s Emily Jemmett rolled a 791 over six games to place 59th at the 3A state bowling tournament Friday at Bowlero in Tukwila, Washington.

Jemmett’s highest score was a 188 in the fifth game.

Tamia Yeager of Spanaway Lake won the individual state title with a 1,256. Kennewick won the team title with a score of 5,400 — 354 pins better than second-place Spanaway Lake.

Boys wrestling

Hermiston crowned eight champions and won the team title at the Mid-Columbia Conference 3A district tournament at Southridge High School.

The Bulldogs compiled 428.5 points, while second-place Southridge (282) was 145.5 points back. Kennewick (279) was third, with Walla Walla fourth (217).

Aidan Larson picked up the first title for Hermiston at 120 pounds with a 10-1 major decision over teammate Jacoby Rodriguez in the title match.

Jaysen Rodriguez followed with a title at 126, pinning Kennewick’s Hector Cardenas in 1:41, and Isaac Ramirez followed at 132, registering a 7-1 decision over Mark Kucheryaviy of Kennewick.

At 144 pounds, Daniel Garza won the title with a forfeit over Southridge’s Jadon Bostic, and Hayden Larson won the 150-pound title with a 7-3 decision over Southridge’s Gabriel Borisch.

Ben Larson made it a clean sweep for the Larsons, winning the 165-pound title, pinning teammate Javier Garcia in 1:14.

The Bulldogs took the two heavyweight titles as Max Ugarte won the 215-pound title with a 9-0 major decision over Adam Dalan of Walla Walla.

Dominic Echeverria won the 285-title with a 4-3 decision over teammate Siu Sepeni.

Also for the Bulldogs, Mason Miracle (106) and Ami Tai (190) were second, Alexis Lujano (113), Logan Royer (175), Joseph Gutierrez (190), Seth Reeve (215) and Joseph Lopez (126) were third.

Hermiston will send 20 men to compete at the Region 4 Championships Feb. 9-10 at University High School in Spokane.

Girls wrestling

Riverside’s Katelyn Wiseman won a title, and the Pirates finished fourth at the 16-team Stokes Landing Girls Invitational at Irrigon High School.

Crook County won the team title with 177.5 points, followed by Vale (127), Grant Union (106) and Riverside (90). Host Irrigon (36) was fifth, Umatilla (34) was eighth, Echo (25) was 11th, and Heppner (18) was 14th.

Wiseman won the 125-pound title with a 5:56 pin of Avery Fisher of Echo.

Also for Riverside, Mayte Pacheco (105), Adalia Chavez (110) and Megan Wiseman (115) were third.

Umatilla’s Grace Aufdermauer won the 190-pound title with a 1:27 pin of Riverside’s Rebecca Wiltberger.

At 235, Irrigon’s Stephanie Romero placed second, losing a 3-0 decision to Grant Union’s Mallory Lusco in the championship match.

Also for the Knights, Chloe Wilson-Claassen was third at 235, pinning Emma Stalcup of Estacada in 1:35 in her final match.

College women’s basketball

WALLA WALLA 73, BLUE MOUNTAIN 51 — The Warriors took an early lead, then put the final nail in the coffin with a 26-16 run in the fourth quarter for an NWAC East home win over the Timberwolves.

Josie Wilson led BMCC with 16 points, while Lexi Robertson added 11 points.

Walla Walla (7-1 East), which has won four games in a row, got a game-high 35 points and five rebounds from Brielle Magnuson. Jaisha Gibb added 14 points, and Dylan Lovett had nine rebounds and nine assists.

College men’s basketball

WALLA WALLA 82, BLUE MOUNTAIN 55 — Luke Holecek and Braden Volkers each had 23 points as the Warriors beat the Timberwolves at home in an NWAC East matchup.

WWCC had a slim 28-23 lead at the half, then exploded for a 54-32 run in the second half to take control of the game.

Jaquone Gatling led BMCC with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Kenny Aubin had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Trayce Atkins handed out 11 assists for the Warriors, while Holecek had 13 rebounds.