Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Arcata Tigers closed out the season with a record of 8-0.

By Ray Hamill — There isn’t any championships being handed out in H-DNL basketball this year because of the pandemic, but if there had been the Arcata Tigers would be worthy boys champs.

On Saturday night — in what was the final game out of 69 H-DNL varsity contests over the past three weeks — the Tigers completed a perfect season with another big victory, beating Fortuna 76-49.

The three Arcata seniors on hand all closed out with a strong performance, continuing to set the tone as they have all season.

Mason Railsback led the Tigers offensively in his final high school game, scoring a game-high 23 points, while fellow seniors Marcus Bensen and Aidan Atkins added eight and seven points, respectively.

“I’m super proud of Mason, Marcus and Aidan,” Arcata head coach Dusty Scofield said. “They really set the tone. They were leaders and they played hard. Exactly what you want in your seniors.”

With a talented junior class, and a sophomore who is arguably the best player in the entire H-DNL right now, the Tigers are building momentum and you get the feeling this program is only going to get better under their third-year head coach.

“I really appreciate the group in general,” Scofield said of the this year’s team, which had to battle all the uncertainty caused by the pandemic for several months leading up to the season. “They came hard and they competed.”

Brandon Bento-Jackson

Arcata’s Marcus Bensen

Sam Trewartha added eight points in the win, while Cameron Klein scored six.

Once again, one of the biggest contributions came from standout sophomore Brandon Bento-Jackson, who continues to excel as a point guard and has been instrumental in the Tigers’ success this season at both ends of the court.

Jaden Kelley scored 15 points to lead the Huskies, who close out the season 5-3, including a 2-2 mark in the Big 5.

Bo Cox, who also enjoyed a big season, added 10 points, while Chaz Schlesinger scored seven and Branson Gans six.

Aidan Atkins

Mason Railsback