PENDLETON — Pendleton did everything a team needs to do to beat a good team.

The Bucks used a solid inside-outside game, went 11 of 12 from the free-throw line, and crashed the boards in an 82-66 victory Tuesday night over neighboring Nixyaawii.

“It was tied at halftime,” Pendleton coach Ron Murphy said. “Everybody knows everybody and they showed up and took care of themselves. We came out in the second half and took care of things like we should have.”

With the score tied 32-32, Dillon Elrod came out and scored 13 of his 24 points in the third quarter as the Bucks went on a 31-20 scoring spree for a 63-52 lead.

In the fourth, Pendleton got nine points from Jubal Hoisington in the midst of a 19-14 run to seal the win.

At 6-foot-3, Hoisington is a big presence in the middle, but the big man also stepped outside and hit three 3-pointers and made 5 of 6 free throws to finish with a game-high 28 points.

Teegan Herrera drained four 3-pointers in the first half to account for his 12 points, and Garret Reinhart added 10 points — all in the second half.

“It was a mixture of things,” Murphy said. “Teegan kept his hot streak up and hit four 3s. We took too many 3s, I thought. They tried to take our inside game away and we were shooting outside. In the second half, we got the ball inside more and took advantage of our size. We rebounded really well in the second half which allowed us to get out and push the ball up the court.”

Nixyaawii’s Kash Bronson, who was scoreless in the first quarter, finished the game with 25 points, while Jeffrey Van Pelt had 18 and Keli Spencer 11.

“Jeffrey shot the ball and hit some 3s,” Murphy said. “We made things hard for Kash in the third and fourth quarters (13 points). Not so much in the second quarter.”

Pendleton will host Ontario on Friday in Great Oregon League action and honor its seniors. Nixyaawii will wrap up Old Oregon League play Thursday at Imbler. The Golden Eagles have already clinched the Meacham Division title of the OOL.

Pendleton girls cruise past Nixyaawii

PENDLETON 61, NIXYAAWII 28 — Khimora Scott scored 21 points in three quarters of play to lead Pendleton to a 61-28 nonleague win Tuesday over Nixyaawii at Warberg Court.

“We came out strong tonight in the first and third quarters, which is something we have been focusing on,” Pendleton coach Tim Foster said. “Rylee (Jackson) came out and hit two bigs 3s to get us started, and Presley (Greenwalt), Kim or Chais (Surber) caught fire with her. Paisley and Shaylor (Fisher) did a great job looking for each other in the post too.”

Pendleton (9-11), who snapped a three-game losing streak, took a 20-6 lead in the first quarter with the help of six points each from Jackson and Scott.

The Bucks outscored the Golden Eagles 11-10 in the second for a 31-16 lead at the half.

Scott added nine points in the third as Pendleton increased its lead to 53-20. Each team scored eight points in the fourth as the Bucks tucked the win away.

“We had some stretches where our intensity waned a bit, but we got back after it and kept our defensive energy high,” Foster said. “It was good to get back in the win column.”

Jackson and Surber each had eight points for the Bucks, while Greenwalt added seven.

Freshman Cryssa Kirkie led Nixyaawii (9-15) with 13 points, including a 9-for-12 performance from the free-throw line. Neveah Moore added four points, while Brooklyn Jones and Gracie Wilson each had three.

Nixyaawii will close out its Old Oregon League schedule on Thursday at Imbler. Pendleton will host Ontario on Friday.