Submitted photo – The high school and alumni teams at Saturday’s game.

Some old friends returned to Eureka High over the weekend for the Loggers’ annual alumni boys basketball game.

And with a big crowd on hand at the new Jay Willard Gymnasium, the two teams served up an instant classic.

Alumni players Mo Charlo and Hans Chalmers combined for 63 points to lead their team to an 89-86 win in overtime.

But the real winners were the fans in attendance.

“It was entertainment at its best, and that’s what it’s all about,” head coach Jimmy Rodgers said. “It’s for the community to come out and watch.”

Charlo, a Eureka legend who has been playing pro basketball for the past 17 years, was instrumental in the win and finished with a game-high 34 points.

The 2002 Eureka graduate, who played collegiately for the Nevada Wolfpack, hit 10 3-pointers in the showdown, including two in overtime.

A Julian Goodman 3 put the high school team up by four in overtime, but Charlo would respond with back-to-back 3s, including a four-point play to put the Alumni up by three with just seven seconds remaining.

Charlo, according to Rodgers, is always willing to help out the program.

“I can pick up the phone and call him and he will come back to support a good cause,” Rodgers said of the Colorado-based former Logger.

The annual game is a fundraiser for the program.

Chalmers, who graduated earlier this year, also had a big night and scored 29 points in the win.

Chalmers is attending UC Santa Cruz but is not playing collegiate ball, although after Saturday’s performance Rodgers has no doubt he could.

“He still has it, and I think he could play at the next level,” the coach said. “He could walk on at Santa Cruz.”

Chalmers was one of six recent graduates to play on Saturday, along with Evan Hodges, Donovan Millender, Jordan Urban, Larry Jimenez and Kai Dixon.

Elijah Estrada had a good night scoring for the high school team and barely missed a buzzer beating 3-point attempt that would have forced a second overtime.

Trenton Gerber and Makai Dennon also played well for the Loggers and rallied the team defensively to get them back into the game and force OT.

This early in the season, Rodgers admits he is still tinkering with the lineup and rotations, but says the team, which is off to a 2-0 start, is coming together.

“It was pretty much a team effort,” he said of the alumni exhibition game. “True grit and no quit.”

The game capped two exciting days of action at Eureka High, which also featured a six-team freshman tournament.

With a shortage of high school officials available early in the season, Rodgers was able to secure middle school officials for the round-robin tournament.

Next up, the Eureka varsity plays a non-tournament game at Petaluma on Thursday night before opening the Mt. Diablo tournament against DeAnza on Friday.