By Ray Hamill — The McKinleyville Panthers won for the second straight night at the Logger Classic on Friday, edging St. Bernard’s 37-34 in an entertaining defensive showdown.

Senior Flynn Creighton nailed two clutch free throws with four second remaining to overcome a one-point deficit and Carter Eichin stole the ensuing in-bound pass and iced the win with a last second basket as the resilient Panthers improved to 8-4.

The host school also won for the second straight day at the Logger Classic, beating Richmond 75-13 to set up a championship showdown against McKinleyville on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Also in action on Friday, Fortuna bounced back from a tournament opening loss to Enterprise at the Justin Gardner Memorial Tournament at Nevada Union High School with a 62-45 win over Yuba.

At the Logger Classic, St. Bernard’s rallied in the fourth quarter to close what had been a nine-point deficit and take the lead on a pair of clutch free throws by sophomore Liam Dyer with 40 seconds remaining.

However, the Panthers would have the final say and re-took the lead on Creighton’s late free throws before Eichin ensured there would no last-second comeback by the Crusaders with his timely steal and basket.

“Our team really turned up the pressure, contested almost every shot and really had outstanding performances all around,” said McKinleyville head coach Chris Davis, whose team is off to an impressive start in his first year in charge.

It was a defensive showdown.

“Our defense kept us in it,” said St. Bernard’s head coach Issac Gildea, whose team played the game without injured standout senior Aaiden Burris. “We’re playing hard. We were one play from winning. I’m proud of my guys.”

Creighton finished with a team-high eight points for McKinleyville, while Nick Maher added seven points and Eichin and Bode Douglass each chipped in six points.

Check out Eichin’s late steal and basket above …

“It was one of those nights where the shots weren’t falling for either team and our defense was going to keep us in the game,” Davis said. 

Afterwards Gildea paid tribute to the Panthers.

“Chris Davis has those guys playing classy,” the SB coach said. “That’s a group with great sportsmanship. They played a great game.”

The loss was just the second on the season for the Crusaders, who dropped to 6-2.

Later on Friday night, the Loggers comfortably took care of Richmond in the second semifinal, improving to 7-3.

“Everybody contributed and had a hand in the win,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said.

Henry Chen led a balanced offense and scored 12 points as the Loggers improved to 7-3.

Will Mooney had a good all-around game and finished with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists.

“He had a really strong game,” DeHart added.

Julian Goodman added nine points, while Jerome Lyons, Jahmil Rippy and Michael Jewell each chipped in six points.

At the Justin Gardner Memorial Tournament at Nevada Union High School, the Huskies bounced back from a 55-53 loss to Enterprise on Thursday with a 17-point win over Yuba on Friday.

Alfonso Medina had his second double-double in tournament play and led the Fortuna offense with 19 points, while also finishing with 10 assists and six rebounds.

Russell Pascascio added with 13 points and six boards and junior Jace Barsanti added 11 points and six rebounds. 

Owen Wallan added nine points and four steals as the Huskies moved above .500 and improved to 5-4.

Playing without the injured Jake Houseworth, who is sidelined for the season, the Huskies lost a close one in their tournament opener.

Medina had another big game in the loss and finished with a double-double. 

The standout senior scored 16 points and also had 10 assists, as well as six steals and five rebounds.

Pascascio added 12 points while Barsanti chipped in nine points.

Lolo Payne also had six points, while Mason Toroni had five points and four rebounds and Kallen Barrote added six rebounds.

On Thursday night, the Ferndale boys fell 59-35 to Kelseyville and dropped to 1-3.

Also on Thursday, the Arcata boys fell to Rio Americiano 60-38 at the Red Bluff tournament.