File photo – The Eureka Loggers

With a huge Little 4 matchup at South Fork on Tuesday night, the St. Bernard’s boys welcomed Trinity to Eureka for a non-conference game on Saturday evening and ran out to a 30-point win, 71-41

The victory was the Crusaders’ third straight and their eighth in nine games.

The SB boys came out strong and led by eight points after the opening quarter before ending the game as a contest with a huge second quarter that saw them outscore the Wolves 26-5 and carry a 29-point lead into the break.

“We came out aggressive, especially on the offensive end in the first quarter,” St. Bernard’s assistant coach Pat Shanahan said. “We moved the ball well and looked to create opportunities for each other.

“Defensively, Trinity made some shots early and by the second quarter the boys made some adjustments and defended very well.”

Carson Costa led the way offensively for the home team and scored a team-high 20 points, while teammate Prince Latimer added 13 points and made his presence felt on defense, and Liam Dyer finished with nine points.

“Carson was a threat inside and out,” Shanahan said. “Prince was a stopper on the defensive end.”

Burke Morrow also impressed in the win and had eight points, as did Garrett Shanahan, who continues to impact the games with his strong all-around play and added six points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Likewise with Tyler Hinrichs, who continues to inspire his teammates with his hustle.

“Tyler set the tone with a couple dives for loose balls that not only showed his heart but his smarts as he tipped the ball up the court to his teammates,” the coach added.

Luke Brunton added four points and six rebounds, while Thien Dang chipped in five points.

With the game well in hand, the SB coaches went deep to their bench in the second half, and the players had an impact at both ends of the floor.

“It was great to be able to get the entire bench some minutes, as these guys work hard every day trying to make their teammates better,” Pat Shanahan said. “They played hard, hit some shots and played tough defense.”

The win was achieved in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.

“We are blessed with support from the student body, staff, alumni and community members,” Shanahan said. “People came out on a rainy Saturday afternoon to support this team and the boys feel it and appreciate it.”

The Crusaders are now 17-4 on the season.

File photo – The St. Bernard’s Crusaders

University Prep 61, Eureka 57

The Loggers mounted a big late comeback and almost tied the game in the final seconds in a tough non-conference showdown at University Prep on Saturday afternoon.

With their team trailing by two late in the fourth quarter, sophomores Ryder Mitchell and Xavier De La Rosa combined to almost pull the Loggers even, when Mitchell grabbed a defensive rebound and threw a half-court pass to De La Rosa, who came up just short of a two-point basket attempt.

“It was just one of those things where the shot just didn’t go our way,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said.

Despite the loss, it was a good second-half performance for the Loggers, who started slow and ultimately gave themselves too big of a deficit to overcome.

“Our guys got out of the car and I feel like our feet were heavy,” DeHart said. “We had a hard time shooting in the first half.”

The Loggers trailed by eight at halftime and saw the deficit stretch to 16 early in the third quarter before coming to life and outplaying a dangerous University Prep team the remainder of the way.

Senior point guard Makai Dennon sparked the second-half rally with some big plays on defense.

“He was a huge catalyst on the defensive end,” the coach said of the senior standout. “And that kind of got us back in the game.”

De La Rosa, who has seen his influence grow as the season has progressed, also was instrumental in the comeback, scoring 11 of the Loggers’ 13 fourth-quarter points.

“He kind of came out on a mission in the fourth quarter doing a great job attacking the rim,” DeHart said of the sophomore who finished with a team-high 15 points and also had nine rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block. “It was kind of a gritty performance by him in the fourth quarter.”

Trenton Gerber added nine points for the Loggers, who dropped to 16-8, while Mitchell had nine points and eight rebounds, as he continues to make his presence felt in the paint, and Will Mooney chipped in eight points.

Owen Hiscox also continued to impress with two huge 3-pointers in the second quarter to help keep the Eureka boys in touch just when the game could have gotten away from them.

Despite the loss, the Eureka coaches were more than happy with the way the players responded late in the game.

“We’re still in in high spirits,” DeHart said. “It was good experience to play a team like that.”