Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Eureka boys will play for the Logger Classic championship on Saturday afternoon at 2.

The St. Bernard’s Crusaders are beginning to find their groove.

On Friday they won for the second time in two games at the Kelseyville tournament, defeating Cloverdale 70-69 in a hard-fought game that went down to the wire.

Liam Dyer, who has been on fire in recent games, continued to play a key role for the Crusaders and scored a team-high 31 points in the win, as well as pulling down nine rebounds and dishing out seven assists.

“Liam was an excellent playmaker again today,” SB assistant coach Pat Shanahan said of the junior guard. 

The Crusaders started strong and led 13-0 early in the game, but the Eagles would come storming back and there was little between the two teams for much of the game.

“We kept the lead but had trouble pulling away,” Shanahan added.

Carson Costa and Garrett Shanahan each also continued to impress for the SB boys.

Costa fished with 17 points and six rebounds, while Garrett Shanahan was a force in the paint once again and had 17 rebounds and nine points.

“Garrett played well on the boards and on defense, especially in the second half,” said the coach, who added “Carson stretched the floor with his shot making.”

Trenten Hagler added eight points and eight assists in the win and was a threat from 3-point range, along with Luke Brunton.

Hagler and Brunton each also made their presence felt on defense.

The win was achieved without some players available.

“We have a couple key players out with injuries and have some areas to work on, and we all recognize that,” Pat Shanahan said. “It was sure nice to get a win despite that.”

The Crusaders, who improved to 5-2, will play Kelseyville for the tournament championship on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

Terra Linda 45, McKinleyville 36

The Panthers fell to the No. 2 ranked Division-3 team in the North Coast Section on day two of the Albany tournament on Friday and dropped to 1-1 in tournament play and 7-3 overall.

Nick Maher scored a team-high 12 points for McKinleyville, while teammate Bode Douglass added 11 points.

“Nick played a hard-nosed game tonight and was consistently in the right spot at the right time,” Panthers head coach Chris Davis said.

The Trojans set the tone in the first half, but the Panthers responded well after the break.

“Terra Linda played a great physical game that got us out of our offense in the first half,” Davis said. “I was proud of our guys for answering our call at halftime to be tougher in each aspect of the game, and the momentum swung our way late because of it.

“Unfortunately we had some costly turnovers and they were able to extend it back out because of them.”

Henry Turner IV added eight points in the loss against a quality Terra Linda team that is ranked No. 4 in the entire NCS.

“Our guys were right there down the stretch,” Davis added. “They played hard and we can hold our heads high after that game.”

Del Norte 53, Anderson 42

The Warriors will play for the championship at the Anderson Invitational tournament after an 11-point win in their semifinal on Friday.

The win was the fifth straight for the Del Norte boys, who improved to 9-2.

Lyon Rigden scored a team-high 19 points in the win and also had six rebounds, while Michael Webster added 17 points.

The Warriors started strong and led by 20 points in the first half, but the Anderson boys would battle back in the second half, although the Warriors would hold on for an 11-point win.

Del Norte head coach Cris Rice praised the performance of his team’s defense.

Aidan Rice helped set his teammates up for success and finished with a team-best seven assists as well as five points.

Kanyon Starkey added five rebounds for Del Norte.

The Warriors will play Redding Christian for the tournament championship one Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and Cris Rice is expecting a battle.

“Redding Christian is good and will be a test of the strength of our team,” he said. 

Former Del Norte coach Scotty Alexander is now an assistant coach with the Redding school, which is 11-1 after defeating Durham 47-39 in the other tourney semifinal on Friday.

Eureka 71, Coquille 16

The Loggers will play for the championship of their ow Logger Classic after another holding an opponent below 20 points for the second straight night.

Junior Owen Hiscox led the way for the Loggers in Friday’s win and finished with 16 points, including three 3-pointers.

“He was someone that we really wanted to continue to get the ball to, and we have extreme confidence in his ability to shoot the ball from deep as well as do other things,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said.

With the win, which was their third straight, the Loggers improved to 7-1.

Elijah Estrada added 10 points for Eureka, while Eddie Gonzalez chipped in nine in what was another good team performance.

“Once again we were able to get a lot of contributions from a lot of players,” DeHart said. “It was really great to watch.

“Our movement with the ball early on and throughout the game was exactly how we would like it to be.”

The Loggers, who also defeated Laytonville 70-19 in tournament play on Thursday, are playing well as a unit early in the season, even considering the quality of their last two opponents.

“ I was really impressed with our team chemistry and our willingness to share the basketball on the offensive end,” DeHart said. “And on the defensive end, just continuing to play great defense and hustling throughout all four quarters.”

The Loggers will play Shasta on Saturday for the tournament championship at 2 p.m. after the 8-6 Knights also defeated Coquille and Laytonville in their first two tourney games.

Crater 83, Arcata 52

The Tigers lost their semifinal at the Red Bluff tournament, falling to a high-pressure Crater team.

“The story of the night was their aggressiveness and tenacity on defense,” said Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard, whose team trailed 32-13 after the opening quarter and could never quite get back in the game.

“We turned the ball over way too much. We did not handle their pressure very well. They handled our pressure much better. And that was essentially the difference in the game.”

The Tigers, who dropped to 7-3 on the season and 1-1 in tournament play, were led by senior Luke Moxon, who had nine points.

Dawso Vallerga added eight points for Arcata, while Dayquan Dunn chipped in seven points.

“We played hard, we hustled, we were just outmatched tonight,” Maynard added.

“Everybody on the roster got in. We had a few bright spots, some guys did some good things, and there’s obviously some stuff we need to clear up.”

The Tigers will close out tournament play in the third-place game on Saturday.

Fortuna 61, Trinity 44

The Huskies got a much-needed win to end seven-game losing streak at the Anderson tournament on Friday.

Jace Barsanti scored a team-high 13 points in the win, and also had five rebounds, while teammate Jack Stacy continued to impress and added 12 points and four assists.

Blayne Barrote also impressed for Fortuna and finished with nine points and four assists, while Lolo Payne and Jake Houseworth each chipped in seven points.

Houseworth also had six rebounds.

Argonaut 75, Hoopa 58

The Warriors saw their six-game winning streak end in a loss to Argonaut on Friday.

No stats were immediately available for Hoopa, which dropped to 7-3 on the season.

The Warriors will be back in action when they take on Amador on Saturday at 1 p.m.