Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Ryder Mitchell (24) was named MVP of this year’s Logger Classic after three bigs days in tournament play.

Eureka sophomore Ryder Mitchell is quickly establishing himself as one of the best players in the H-DNL.

Mitchell capped a good three days at the Logger Classic with a big performance in what turned out to be a championship showdown against Shasta on Saturday afternoon.

The impressive sophomore center finished with a double-double in a 72-67 win, scoring 23 points and adding 10 rebounds.

“We’re really, really proud of Ryder,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said. “He’s growing up in front of our eyes.

“And he’s a leader. He garners a lot of respect from the guys in the locker room … And tonight was a dominant performance from him on the boards and in the paint.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the tournament hosts.

They enjoyed the better of exchanges in the first half and carried a healthy 40-27 advantage into halftime.

But the Wolves came storming back in the second half, thanks in part to some technical fouls called on the Loggers, and they took a two-point lead early in the fourth.

However, the Eureka players regained the momentum and held on for the win.

“Those are the things we’re working to make sure we eliminate from our game, just those costly errors,” DeHart said. “The guys did a good job weathering the storm. We were down by two early the fourth and our guys never let it phase them.”

Elijah Estrada also had a good game and finished with 17 points, four assists, four rebounds and four steals, as did Trenton Gerber, who added 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Photo by Amber Buntin – The Eureka players celebrate their tournament win.

The seniors helped settle the team late after Shasta’s big run.

“We lean on those guys consistently and they produced for us tonight,” DeHart said of seniors Gerber, Estrada and Will Mooney.

Mooney added 10 points and seven rebounds.

Both Shasta and Eureka had won their opening two games in the round robin tournament to set up Saturday’s winner-takes-all showdown.

Estrada and impressive sophomore Xavier De La Rosa were each named to the all-tournament team after three impressive days for both players.

Next up, the Loggers will host Kelseyville in a non-tournament game next Saturday.

The tournament championship is the second for the Loggers in their three tournament appearances this month.

Eureka is now 8-1.

Photo by Amber Buntin

Hoopa 72, Amador 71

The Warriors quickly got back to wining ways on Saturday, defeating the Buffaloes by one point in a game that went right dow to the wire.

The win was the Warriors’ seventh in eight games as they improved to 8-3.

There was little to separate the two schools for much of the game, with Amador holding a slender two-point lead at halftime and the Warriors leading by two going into the fourth quarter.

Senior Brandon Romero, who is enjoying a big season for Hoopa, finished with a double-double, scoring 17 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.

Romero also had a team-high four assists.

Fellow senior Lyle McKinnon led the way offensively, scoring a team-high 19 points and adding seven boards, while junior Malakai McCoy scored 17 points and junior Charles Sorrel chipped in 10 points.

Brian Richards also had a good game and finished with a team-high 12 rebounds, as well as three steals.

Submitted photo – The Del Norte Warriors won the Anderson tournament on Saturday.

Del Norte 45, Redding Christian 44

The Warriors remained red hot and stretched their winning streak to six straight with a victory over the Lions in the championship game of the Anderson Invitational tournament on Saturday evening.

The game went right down to the wire, with the Del Norte defense making a big stop as time expired.

The Warriors led by eight with just under three minute remaining, but the Lions came storming back and took a one-point lead in the final minute.

Del Norte senior Michael Webster went to the free throw line with eight seconds left and nailed both of his attempts to put Del Norte up by one.

And the team defense made it count with the big stop on a baseline drive as time expire.

“We’re playing well,” Del Norte head coach Cris Rice said. “It was nice to see that caliber of basketball team. It was nice to play a competitive game. It was a real gritty performance.”

Webster led the Warriors offensively with 13 points, while defensive specialist Ryan O’Laughlin added a season-high 11 points.

Kennan Horton also impressed and added eight points, as did Lyon Rigden with six points.

Once again Aidan Rice did a good job setting his teammates up for success and dished out a team-best seven assists.

“He’s passing the ball really well,” the head coach said of Aidan Rice.

Rigden and Aidan Rice also played very well defensively while guarding Redding’s top two scoring threats.

Del Norte is now 10-2.

The Del Norte JVs also won their Anderson tournament.

The Del Norte JVs.

Arcata 45, Red Bluff 37

The Tigers closed out a challenging Red Bluff tournament with a victory over the host school on Saturday, which was their second over the Spartans in nine days having also beaten them at last weekend’s Arcata tournament.

Luke Moxon stepped up big in the win and finished with 21 points, while Dawson Vallerga added seven points.

“This was more of the Red Bluff team I anticipated last week,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said of the Spartans who played the Tigers much closer this week. “They’re very athletic, very aggressive, and just a tough team.

“They gave us everything we could handle and I’m proud of my guys for the way they responded. 

“But we’ve got a lot of stuff we’ve got to clean up.”

With last year’s Big 5 MVP Luke Lemke missing the past two games after taking a knock in his first game of the season on Thursday, Moxon helped carry the load.

“Luke Moxon stepped up and kind of saved the day for us,” Maynard said.

The senior standout was named to the all-tournament team, as was teammate Heron Cromwell, who has shown a lot of improvement in recent games.

“He’s really come on lately and filled multiple roles,” Maynard added of Cromwell. “He had a really good weekend for us.”

Lemke is expected back in the lineup soon.

“He just needs a little bit of time to rest and heal,” Maynard said of the standout junior.

Arcata is now 8-3.