Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Aaiden Burris in action for the Crusaders on Thursday night.

By Ray Hamill — The Crusaders moved one step closer to a Little 4 championship in boys basketball with a 75-43 win over Ferndale at St. Bernard’s on Thursday night, while the South Fork Cubs kept the pressure on the conference leaders with a 66-42 win at Hoopa.

With their win, the SB boys improved to 3-0 in the Little 4 at the halfway stage of the conference schedule, while South Fork improved to 2-1 with a second straight conference win.

Both teams came out fired up at St. Bernard’s and combined for 46 first-quarter points, with the home team opening up a 30-16 lead going into the second quarter.

“Our guys came out aggressive early and so did Ferndale,” St. Bernard’s coach Pat Shanahan said. “Coach (Graham) Westfall’s squad was hitting shots early and playing hard. We responded and with ball movement and patience were able to extend the lead some.”

Playing against his former school, St. Bernard’s senior Aaiden Burris helped set the early tone and finished with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Fellow senior Seth Dyer also helped set the tone, as he has been doing all season long, and he finished with 19 points.

The senior leadership was key.

“Proud of our senior leadership tonight,” Shanahan said. “Aaiden and Seth especially played strong and confident basketball.”

Liam Dyer also had a good night for the home team and added 10 points and five assists, while teammate Rowan Cromwell finished with eight points, 10 rebounds and three steals.

With the win, which was their ninth straight, the Crusaders improved to 15-2 overall.

They have not lost a game since mid-December.

However, Shanahan stressed there’s still plenty of work ahead if they are to win the Little 4.

“We are halfway through league, but this next half will be a good test for us to see how much we have improved,” he said.

The Crusaders also welcomed back head coach Issac Gildea, who had missed some time for personal reasons.

“It was great to be back with the SB players, students staff and coaches,” he said.

The Wildcats dropped to 0-3 in conference and 4-9 overall.

No individual stats were immediately available for the Cats.

At Hoopa, meanwhile, the Cubs also got off to a fast start in a gym where it’s not easy to win.

The visitors led 15-3 after the first quarter and stretched the advantage to 19 points (30-11) by halftime.

“Defense was key for us tonight,” head coach Taylor Morrow said. “We did an awesome job making every shot they took really hard, and we got in the passing lanes and got out in transition.”

Tommy Rotbergs once again was hugely influential in the win and finished with a game-high 21 points, while teammate Shevy Bero-Van Meter also continued to shine and added 16 points, including four 3-pointers.

Ruben Lopez gave the Cubs some great energy early on and helped key the early dominance, while Cameron Washington gave South Fork a big lift off the bench.

“It’s really tough to play at Hoopa so I’m really happy to have gotten such a decisive win on the road,” Morrow said.

Brandon Romero led the home team offensively and finished with 11 points, while Neil Moon and Lyle McKinnon each added seven points.

Tristan Billings and Brian Richards each also had five points for the Warriors, who dropped to 1-2 in the Little 4 and 6-9 overall.

South Fork is now 16-5 overall.