Photo by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Fortuna varsity team competed at the McKinleyville Tip-Off Classic over the weekend.

It was a busy weekend for the Fortuna Huskies boys basketball program, with the varsity team in action at the McKinleyville Tip-Off Classic and the school’s JV and freshmen teams hosting their fifth annual “It’s All About the Journey Tourney.”

The Huskies varsity boys went 1-2 in tournament play, opening with a 61-50 loss to Cosumnes Oaks on Thursday and following that with a 50-43 loss to Las Plumas on Friday.

The Huskies would close out tournament play with a 52-49 win over West Valley on Saturday.

The Huskies opened up a 20-5 lead early on against West Valley, but would allow their opponents claw their way back with some sloppy ball handling.

However, Fortuna would hold on for the win.

“We came out and played some of our best basketball (of the season),” Fortuna head coach Sotomayor said. “Again, we let them back in the game with untimely turnovers.”

Overall, however, the Huskies are doing a lot of things well early in the new season after just recently adding their football players to the roster after a long playoff run.

“We are winning so many other aspects of the game,” Sotomayor added. “We are getting better and weaving our football guys in. We can spend a few days really putting in some work and preparing for the (Arcata tournament) with most of our guys.”

Jack Gonzales led the way offensively in the win and finished with 10 points, while Jack Stacy added nine points, including making some key free throws down the stretch to help his team over the finish line.

Turnovers were also a problem against Las Plumas, with 25 off them in the loss.

Tanner Franklin finished with a team-high 14 points in that game, while Stacy added 13 points and Gavin Mayberry chipped in five points.

Submitted photo – The Fortuna freshman team, pictured with members of Ed Houseworth’s family after placing second in tournament play over the weekend.

Submitted photo – The St. Bernard’s JVs celebrate their tournament championship over the weekend.

The Huskies also hosted their annual early-season JV and freshman tournament, which is a memorial tournament for Ed Houseworth.

Sotomayor described it as a “a great success” with “some real quality basketball taking place.”

A total of 16 teams participated, with St. Bernard’s defeating Eureka in the JV final and Ukiah beating Fortuna in the freshmen final.

The annual tournament serves as a fundraiser for the Fortuna boys program, but it also funds two annual scholarships, one each for a boy and a girl moving on to play at the collegiate level.