PENDLETON? A?few pregame stomach butterflies are to be expected for any team making its first appearance at the final site of the state basketball tournament.

The Irrigon Knights are not your typical state newcomer, though, and proved it Wednesday with a 58-32 dismantling of the Myrtle Point Bobcats in the Class 2A?boys quarterfinals at Pendleton Convention Center.

If youre nervous that means youre not prepared, said Irrigon senior Francisco Nunez. Weve got to prepare for every game and if you know youre not nervous that means youre prepared.

The top-seeded Knights (27-0) entered the game as prepared as they could get, even getting an assist from Blue Mountain Conference foe Stanfield in the form of game footage from the Bobcats 59-52 win over the Tigers in the first round.

We did watch some of their film so we studied up on what we could do, how to stop them and not let them play their game,?said Irrigons Adrian Romero, who scored a game high 25 points and had 10 rebounds. First off we wanted to stop (Cooper Stateler), their shooter. Weve seen videos and hes a deadly shooter, pretty consistent.

Stateler led the Bobcats (14-11) with 11 points but, with Anthony Landeros in his pocket for 28 minutes, was just 4-for-9 from the field and 1-for-5 from three-point range.

Stateler only had two points in the first half as Myrtle Point was held to 26.3 percent from the field.

A lot of that had to do with Irrigons press defense, which got a boost from freshman guard Fredy Veras five first-half steals as Myrtle Point tallied nearly as many turnovers (17)?as shots (19) in the games first 16 minutes. Vera came off the bench and finished with six steals one short of the modern final site record of seven set by Western Mennonites Mike Woodward in 2007.

Hes been doing that all year, coming off the bench hard as a freshman and taking a big step up there and playing with us seniors,?said Nunez, who had 14 points. We believe in him and hes a great player.

Irrigons 15 steals was four short of the final site record (19) set by Western Mennonite in 2007. Myrtle Point finished the game with 26 turnovers.

Defensively I was really focused on assignments,?said fourth-year Irrigon head coach Jake McElligott. Each guy, we talked about what their assignment was, who they were guarding and what their role was going to be. And I?thought they locked into their assignments early on. … I?thought the key was them staying disciplined defensively and that led to some easy offense.

When the Bobcats were able to get the ball within shooting range, they often took the first opportunity that presented itself leading to rushed, off-balance attempts.

With only three offensive rebounds in each half, that meant the Bobcats were quickly back on the defensive.

Irrigon shot 14-for-34 (41.2 percent) in the first half, 7-for-15 from three, and finished the first quarter on a 14-4 run that gave them an 18-8 lead.

Irrigon led 38-14 at halftime, and finished the game with a 47-27 advantage on the glass, hauling in 25 offensive rebounds. The Knights total was two short of the modern final site team record of 49 set by Kennedy in 2008.

Thats always been our main thing, to always out-rebound the other team, box out, crash the boards hard,?said Nunez, whose fellow guard Landeros finished seven offensive boards and eight total to go with his 11 points.

Even with so much going right for the Knights, McElligott who already led the Knights softball team to a state title in 2009 wasnt going to let them cruise.

With 4:15 left in the third quarter and Irrigon ahead 44-16, McElligott called a timeout to refocus his team, which had just turned in a five-shot possession that yielded no points.

It doesnt matter whos out there, its got to be focus and discipline all the time, he said. We had some (uncontested shots) right next to the basket that we didnt finish very well. Theres some things we didnt do well 17 turnovers you wouldnt like to see in a game like this but the biggest thing is effort and discipline. I?saw that tonight.

The teams closed the third quarter even at 5-5 but Irrigon went on a 9-2 run over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, capping their scoring with a Jose Romero inside basket that gave them their largest lead at 58-25 with 4:22 to play.

With games final two minutes the Knights cleared the bench to get a trio of seldom-used sophomores and a pair of upperclassmen their first chance to play in in the big show of Oregon 2A?hoops.

Theyve been part of our season. We practice against each other all season long so its nice to see those guys get some playing time,?McElligott said.

The Knights will try to continue their dominance in the semifinals against Western Mennonite on Friday at 3:15 p.m. The Pioneers beat Central Linn 55-47 on Wednesday.

Landeros said that as exciting as winning the schools first final site game is, the Knights wont celebrate long.

We know that everyone we play is coming for us, to knock us off,?Landeros said. Weve just got to take it one game and one day at a time and stay focused on the responsibility we have at state.

Myrtle Point, which was playing in its first Class 2A final site game as well after several trips in Class 3A, will go for its first win in Pendleton today in an elimination game against Central Linn at 9 a.m.

Contact Matt Entrup at mentrup@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0838.