Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Thursday’s game between Eureka and Piner.

By Ray Hamill — It was a disappointing start to the 55th annual Jerry Paul Arcata Invitational Basketball Tournament for the Eureka Loggers on Thursday evening after they were outmatched by defending tourney champion Piner.

The Eureka boys fell 80-55 and dropped to 4-2 on the season.

The win sets up an early-season matchup against Big 5 rival Fortuna, which also lost its tournament opener on Thursday.

“We kind of came out flat, and we didn’t execute to the same level that Piner did,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said. “They kind of took advantage of the opportunities we gave up and we didn’t do the same.”

Elijah Estrada, who is enjoying a good start to the new season, scored a team-high 18 points in the loss, while Julian Goodman finished with 13 points and the ever-dangerous Jahmil Rippy added 11 points.

Goodman was one of the bright spots for the Loggers and battled to the end with a strong second-half performance.

However, it wasn’t enough for the Loggers who will try to bounce back against a Fortuna team that fell to Montgomery in the tournament opener.

“We’ll get back to the drawing board and gather ourselves and get ready for the game tomorrow,” DeHart added.

Piner, which improved to 5-1, will play Montgomery in one of Friday’s semifinals at 6:30 p.m.

Eureka and Fortuna play at 3:30 p.m.