Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The St. Bernard’s players and cheerleaders celebrate their conference championship after Thursday’s win.

St. Bernard’s closed out conference play with a perfect 6-0 record after beating Hoopa 65-53 on Thursday night, while Ferndale threw the race for second place wide open with a 61-54 win over South Fork.

With their win, the Wildcats (2-3) move into second place in the standings with one game remaining at Hoopa on Friday night in a showdown that was pushed back from Tuesday because of the weather this week.

The Warriors dropped to 1-4 in conference after Thursday’s loss, but they can tie South Fork (2-4) and Ferndale for second with a win on Friday.

But no one is catching the Crusaders, who closed out conference play in much the same way they started it.

“As a team we continue to improve,” SB assistant coach Pat Shanahan said. “Mistakes and blown coverages happen, but how we respond with maturity and positivity has been one of the best qualities of this team.”

Junior Liam Dyer helped set the tone early in the game and finished with a game-high 30 points.

He also had 10 rebounds for a double-double, while teammate Carson Costa added 13 points.

“Liam started the game very well and was very hard to stop,” Shanahan said. “Carson hit some clutch shots, and we coaches thought Trenten (Hagler’s) energy and patience off the bench really sparked us in the second half.”

Garrett Shanahan also had a double-double, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and he was “solid and anchors us in many ways,” the coach added.

The Warriors would grow into the game and continued to battle, with junior Brian Richards leading the way.

“Minus that first quarter when we got down a little bit, I felt we did well,” Hoopa head coach Roman Hutt said. “Our energy was there.”

Richards finished with a team-high 19 points, including 12 in the first half, while teammates Josh Moon and Brandon Romero each added nine points.

But the Warriors were never able to bridge the gap after the Crusaders’ fast start.

“Basketball is a game of runs, and they went on their run and sustained it,” Hutt added.

St. Bernard’s Hagler finished with seven points, while teammate Prince Latimer added four points and Tyler Hinrichs finished with five rebounds and four assists.

Luke Brunton also impacted the game.

“Luke Brunton was aggressive on the boards, which added to our momentum,” Pat Shanahan said. “Tyler played strong defense and passed the ball efficiently.”

Carlos Anzora added six points for the visitors, while Lyle McKinnon had five points.

“Thankful for Hoopa and coach Hutt for making the effort through inclement weather to come play,” Pat Shanahan said. “The boys were excited for senior night and wanted to compete.”

Before the game, the Crusaders honored their two seniors, Eunpyo Park and Billy Le.

“It was special to honor our two seniors, who love basketball and their teammates,” the SB coach said. “They played hard in the game and showed the crowd how hard they’ve been working in practice.”

The Wildcats also celebrated their seniors before their final home game of the regular season, a class that includes Parker Prior, Omar Amador, Luis Chavez and Henry Westfall.

Prior had a good game and finished with 15 points in the win, as the Wildcats outplayed the Cubs in the second half to overcome an 11-point halftime deficit and secure the all-important win to keep their Dick Niclai tournament hopes on track.

“We had a good second half, especially on defense,” Ferndale head coach Lane Stapp said. 

Prescott Langer was key to the second-half comeback and finished with a team-high 18 points in the win despite being in foul trouble for much of the night, as he continue his impressive recent form.

“Ferndale came out and played awesome,” South Fork head coach Taylor Morrow said. “They were clearly juiced with senior night.

“We came out really flat in the third quarter and only scored six points. And we could never bounce back mentally.”

The loss means the Cubs will have to play a waiting game until after Friday’s game at Hoopa to see if they can hold on and qualify for the Dick Niclai tournament.

“Not the result we wanted to end our regular season,” Morrow said.