Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Prince Latimer in action for the Eureka boys on Saturday.

By Ray Hamill — Local basketball fans were treated to a preview of this year’s Big 5 in the championship game at the Logger Classic in Eureka on Saturday afternoon.

The host team broke open a tight game against McKinleyville with a big fourth quarter and ran out to a 66-55 win in an entertaining and intense showdown at the new Jay Willard Gymnasium.

The game was a back-and-forth affair for the opening three quarters and the Loggers carried just a one-point lead into the final period.

But they pulled away over the final eight minutes and improved to 8-3 on the season with their third tournament win in three days.

It was a good early-season test for the host school.

“McKinleyville’s a really good team and they play super hard, so we knew it was going to be a battle,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said. “We just wanted to match their physicality and we did.”

Junior guard Jahmil Rippy led the Loggers with a game-high 20 points, while Elijah Estrada finished with 16 points and Prince Latimer added 10.

Estrada was named tourney MVP as he continued to have a big impact for the Loggers, while Rippy, Jerome Lyons and Nelson Botzler-Washington were all named to the all-tournament team.

Eureka scored just nine points in the opening quarter but began to settle into the game and carried a 24-21 lead into halftime.

The Loggers offense, however, would find its groove in the fourth quarter and they outscored the Panthers 23-13 for the period to pull away.

“We were happy we didn’t lose any momentum throughout the game even though things weren’t going out way,” DeHart said. “It was a defensive battle and we talked (to the players) about sticking with it.”

The players heeded the advice and got their first win over a Big 5 opponent this season.

“We hit some big shots in the second half,” DeHart added.

Julian Goodman added nine points in the win.

Nick Maher continued to impress for the Panthers and finished with a team-high 19 points, while Cole Armstrong added 13 points and Bode Douglass and Flynn Creighton each chipped in seven points.

Maher, Flynn and Armstrong were named to the all-tournament team.

“(Eureka head) coach (Jimmy) Rodgers has his players playing with a lot of passion and in a system that really matches their personnel very well,” McKinleyville head coach Chris Davis said. 

The Mack defense was solid throughout and the Panthers will take a lot of positives from the three-day tournament.

“That was the best we’ve kept our defensive pressure over a three-day tournament, but we had some lapses today that Eureka was able to capitalize on,” Davis added. “We executed well on the offensive end of the floor but had a hard time converting at the rim.

“It was a hard-fought win by the Loggers and an exceptional tournament put on by coach Rodgers.”

The Panthers dropped to 8-5.