Union-Bulletin

ATHENA - Weston-McEwen's boys basketball team opened its season with a 72-44 win over Umatilla Friday night.

The TigerScots were led by Dallas Reich's 28, while Reich and Tyler Babb both posted double-doubles.

Matt McGill came in off the bench to score three freethrows in the fourth quarter.

"Matt played huge minutes for us," said W-M coach Brian Pickard. "He took over, ran point guard and did a great job off the bench."

Pickard was pleased with his team's play in its opening game.

"Everyone off the bench contributed and played well," he said.

The team broke down a bit in the fourth, letting Umatilla cut a 16-point lead to four. But a timeout and a minute-and-a-half later, the lead was back at 17 and it stayed there.

"The last couple of years, we get a big lead and think we can cruise, and it's a bad habit of letting people back in," Pickard said. "It's something we've got to work on. When we've got an opponent down 15, 16 points, we need to finish them.

"It was a total team effort tonight," Pickard said. "Everyone contributed and played really well."

The TigerScots travel to Umatilla Thursday for the Columbia River Class Tournament, an eight-team tourney hosted by Umatilla.

Weston-McEwen 72, Umatilla 44

UMATILLA (44) - Sanguino 1 2-2 4, Montez 4 6-6 14, Campos 3 1-2 8, Snyder 2 0-0 4, Hurley 1 0-0 2, McBride 5 0-1 11.

WESTON-MCEWEN (72) - Greenwalt 1 0-2 2, Thul 4 4-4 12, McGill 0 3-4 3, Speed 1 1-2 3, Babb 7 3-4 17, Christopher 0 0-0 0, Salter 0 1-2 1 Kobasa 1 0-0 2, Reich 10 6-8 28, Terjeson 2 0-0 4.

Umatilla 12 15 14 3 - 44

W-M 16 15 14 3 - 72

3-point goals - Uma 3 (Sanguino, Campos, McBride), W-M 2 (Reich). Total Fouls - Uma 19, W-M 15. Fouled Out - none. Technical Fouls - Umatilla 1. Rebounds - Uma 20 (Sanguino 4), W-M 30 (Reich 13). Turnovers - Uma DNR, W-M 13, Uma DNR. Assists - W-M 12 (Reich 5), Uma DNR.