Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Saturday night’s game at Jay Willard Gymnasium

By Ray Hamill — The final game at Jay Willard Gymnasium between these two crosstown rivals provided a fitting farewell.

With the Eureka Loggers set to move into a new home before next season, they hosted St. Bernard’s in boys basketball on Saturday and the game did not disappoint a large crowd in attendance.

When all was said and done, however, it was the Crusaders who walked away with the overtime win by a score of 78-77.

The difference, according to St. Bernard’s head coach Issac Gildea, was the play of one player in particular.

“Just discovering how to use Owen Shanahan has been the key for us lately,” the head coach said. “We utilized him tonight to get the most out of him.”

And it worked, with the 6-foot-7 senior center scoring a team-high 25 points.

He wasn’t the only standout in the win, as the visitors got the better of exchanges in overtime after seeing a 10-point second-half lead evaporate.

The ever-dangerous Aiaden Burris also had a huge night and finished with 20 points, including five 3s.

“He let the game come to him,” Gildea said.

Seth Dyer added 15 points, including a couple of key 3s, one of them in overtime, as the Crusaders outscored the home team 6-5 in the extra period.

Tyler Dimmick also continued to impress and added nine points, while Wyatt Simoni had seven points.

“Tyler and Wyatt really stepped up tonight and played some great basketball,” Gildea said. 

So too did Eureka’s Evan Hodges and Hans Chalmers.

Hodges had a game-high 28 points, including eight 3-pointers, five in the third quarter alone, while Chalmers finished with 25 points.

“We survived that,” Gildea said of Hodges’ big third quarter.

Impressive sophomore Elijah Estrada continued to impress after just recently being called up from the JVs and chipped in 10 points, while Jamin Guilbert added eight points, Jordan Urban five and Jahmil Rippey four.

The Crusaders improved to 12-9 with the win, while the Loggers dropped to 9-13.

The game evened the season series between the two rivals at 1-1, and the victory will give the SB boys some momentum heading into a big final week of the regular season.

It was also a nice response after losing a key league game at South Fork two days prior.

“What a great momentum shift for our team down the stretch,” Gildea said. “If we play like that, we’ll be a tough out for anybody.”