BAKER CITY — Jeffrey Van Pelt and Irvin Stewart each had 21 points to help Nixyaawii to the championship game of the Old Oregon League district tournament with a 70-50 win over Pine Eagle on Friday at Baker High School.

“I thought we played well as a team,” Nixyaawii coach Aaron Noisey said. “It won’t show on the stat sheet, but we had a lot of off-the-ball assists, meaning we set out screens so our shooter could get open, and our shooter made shots.”

The Golden Eagles (16-10) will play No. 1 Union (23-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday for the district title. 

Pine Eagle (11-15) will play Pilot Rock on Saturday in the third-place game.

Stewart had seven of his points in the first quarter as the Golden Eagles took a 15-12 lead. It was all Nixyaawii from there.

The Golden Eagles went on a 22-8 scoring spree in the second for a 37-20 lead at half, then outscored the Spartans 22-17 in the third to expand their lead to 59-37.

Pine Eagle outscored Nixyaawii 13-11 in the fourth, but it wouldn’t be near enough.

Van Pelt scored all of his points off seven 3-pointers. The Golden Eagle hit 13 of 26 3s on the night. Kash Bronson added 18 points, while Keli Spencer had 10. Stewart also had 14 rebounds and two blocked shots.

Jason Ludin led Pine Eagle with 23 points and nine rebounds, while Jake Pollock added 14 points and 16 rebounds.

“We knew coming in we would have to limit Ludin’s shots, and for the most part, the boys played really good team defense on him,” Noisey said.

Rockets fall in OOL district semifinals

UNION 61, PILOT ROCK 41 – KJ Klebaum had a game-high 23 points as top-ranked Union beat No. 8 Pilot Rock 61-41 on Friday to reach the Old Oregon League district championship game at Baker High School.

“We executed our game plan perfectly and our boys had one heck of a first half after some initial butterflies,” Union coach Odin Miller said. “I couldn’t be more proud of this group of boys and the way they approach the game of basketball. We are thankful for our opportunity tomorrow and will be ready to go.”

Union (23-2) will play Nixyaawii in the championship game at 5 p.m. Saturday. Pilot Rock (21-5) and Pine Eagle will play in the third-place game.

Klebaum scored 10 of his points in the first half as the Bobcats took a 31-12 lead at the half. 

The Rockets played right with the Bobcats in the second half, but could not overcome the first-half deficit. 

Landon Fratzke added 14 points for Union, while Joey McCraw chipped in 12 points.

Tate Thacker led Pilot Rock with 18 points, with Sun Schimmel and Gage Williams each adding 10.