By ANNIE FOWLER | The CUJ

MISSION — Irvin Stewart had 26 points, and Nixyaawii completed an Old Oregon League sweep of No. 8 Pilot Rock with an 80-62 victory Thursday night.

“I did not expect this,” Nixyaawii coach Aaron Noisey said. “I am proud of my boys. They played real team basketball and they are playing really well as a team. We had balanced scoring. We have been waiting for that all year.”

The win puts the Golden Eagles (11-9 overall, 5-1 OOL) on top of the Ladd half of the OOL standings, with Pilot Rock second at 4-2.

“We still have some tough games to go,” Noisey said. “We still have Echo and we are going to have to play them tough at our place. We have to do what we can to earn that top seed from our side. We had a tough preseason with Goldendale, Umatilla and Stanfield. The guys don’t like to lose, but those tough games built us to where we are now.”

Jeffrey Van Pelt scored 12 of 18 points in the first quarter as the Golden Eagles got out to an 18-12 lead in the first quarter. 

A balanced scoring act in the second gave Nixyaawii a 42-27 lead at the half.

“Jeffrey hit some big shots, and Andrew (Simpson) did a great job for us defensively tonight,” Noisey said. “We are a really great team when we are balanced. It makes it really hard for people to guard us.” 

The Golden Eagle kept the pressure on in the third with a 16-12 run for a 59-39 heading into the fourth quarter.

Pilot Rock’s Sun Schimmel scored 17 of his game-high 37 points in the fourth quarter as the Rocket went on a 23-21 run, but it wouldn’t be enough to catch the Golden Eagles.

“I know Sun is getting close to 1,000 (points) for his career,” Noisey said. “We tried everything we could to keep him from scoring. It’s tough for us to stop him. He’s that good of a player.”

Kash Bronson added 19 points for the Golden Eagles, while Simpson had nine and Keli Spencer eight.

Tate Thacker added 13 points for the Rockets (16-4), while Gage Williams had five.

Rockets rally to beat Golden Eagles girls

Nixyaawii 36, Pilot Rock 62 — After trailing 17-9 after the first quarter, Pilot Rock put together a 21-5 second quarter to take the lead and an eventual 62-36 Old Oregon League win over Nixyaawii on Thursday night.

“We had a very slow start offensively, but had a huge second and third quarter,” Pilot Rock coach David Norton said. The girls played very hard in the quarters defensively to get us going.”

Annalise Watchman and Liana Stewart each had five points for Nixyaawii in the first quarter as the Golden Eagles took an eight-point lead.

Paige Hansen scored 12 of her 24 points in the second, and Hailey Severe added eight, as the Rockets went out front 30-22 at the half.

Severe scored 12 of her 24 points in the third as Pilot Rock (14-6 overall, 3-3 OOL) pulled away for good with a 56-26 lead.

Watchman led Nixyaawii (7-13, 2-4) with eight points, while Stewart had seven and Gracie Wilson six. Pilot Rock is back in action Tuesday, Feb. 3, at Griswold. Nixyaawii will host Cove on Tuesday.