By ANNIE FOWLER | The CUJ
PENDLETON — After dropping its past two games to Umatilla, Pendleton used 22 points from Jubal Hoisington for a 72-65 nonleague win Monday at Warberg Court.
“We had them down by 15 at half-time, then they went on a 10-point to open the third,” Pendleton coach Ron Murphy said. “We were able to stop the bleeding and right the ship. I was a little nervous.”
The Bucks (9-10) led 25-18 after the first quarter, and 45-30 at the half.
Hoisington scored 18 of his points in the first quarter, but soon found himself in foul trouble.
“He and Garret (Reinhart) were both in foul trouble,” Murphy said. “Jalen West came off the bench and hit some big 3s for us and had some big rebounds. He was key to our win. Cole (Sazue) came off the bench as well and gave us some big rebounds in the first half and in the fourth quarter.”
Mike McGee scored 11 of his 25 points in the third quarter as the Vikings went on a 19-14 run to pull within 59-49.
Umatilla (11-8) outscored Pendleton 16-13 in the fourth, but couldn’t make up the difference.
“Umatilla answered back and had a good second half,” Murphy said. “We were able to handle their pressure, we just made careless mistakes. Mike got hot in the second half. If we take care of the ball, he probably doesn’t have 25. Our guards were able to contain (David) Garcia pretty well. They played great defense out front.”
West added 16 points for the Bucks, while Dillon Elrod had 14.
McGee had nine rebounds, four assists and four steals to go along with his 25 points. Jayden Perches added 17 points and nine rebounds, while Garcia had five points and five rebounds. Pendleton will host La Grande on Friday in a Greater Oregon League game, while Umatilla will play Thursday at Riverside.
