Photos by Taunya Caldwell Brunton – Action from Friday morning’s St. Bernard’s game.

By Ray Hamill — A busy St. Bernard’s team has advanced to play in the Mt. Shasta tournament championship game after posting two wins on Friday.

The Crusaders opened tournament play with a 71-62 win over Weed in the morning and followed that with a 72-47 win over Durham later in the day.

On Saturday, the Crusaders will play McKinleyville for the championship after the Panthers also won their semifinal, defeating the host school 65-61.

In other games on Friday, the Arcata Tigers beat Windsor 64-59 in the semifinal of their own tournament and they will play South Medford in Saturday’s championship game at 2:30 p.m.

Also at the Arcata tournament, Del Norte defeated Eureka 55-50.

The Fortuna Huskies were also in action at the Arcata tournament and lost for the second straight day, falling 58-51 to Red Bluff.

The Hoopa Warriors, meanwhile, will play the host school in the Trinity tournament final on Saturday at 5:15 p.m. after back-to-back wins on Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday, the Warriors defeated Big Valley 67-20, and they followed that with an 84-48 win over Hayfork the following day.

Luke Lemke scored 35 points on Friday for the Arcata Tigers, who improved to 5-4.

The standout senior came out fired up and scored 15 of his team’s 18 points in the first quarter.

“Luke kind of set the tone,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “He was finding driving lanes and getting to the basket.”

Fellow senior Elias Gomez also impressed for the tournament hosts and added 11 points, as did Eoin McGoldrick.

Overall, the performance was far from perfect, but the Arcata boys did what they had to do.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we pulled out the win,” Maynard said.

Saturday’s tournament schedule opens with Fortuna and Eureka at 10 a.m., followed by Del Norte and Red Bluff at 11:30, Montgomery and Windsor in the third-place game at 1 and the final at 2:30.

St. Bernard’s 71, Weed 62

St. Bernard’s 72, Durham 47

Carson Costa continued his impressive start to the new season with a big performance, as the Crusaders won their opening game at the Mt. Shasta tournament against Weed on Friday morning.

Costa scored a team-high 29 points in the win, while Liam Dyer also impressed and added 25 points.

“The first half we did not play to our standard,” SB head coach Pat Shanahan said. “The boys regrouped at halftime and came out with a lot more passion.”

Garrett Shanahan added nine points in the win, while Prince Latimer chipped in five points and had multiple assists.

Trenten Hagler also gave the team a spark off the bench on loose balls and on the glass.

The team defense against a challenging Weed team played a big part in the win, especially the play of Tyler Hinrichs, who “played tough on their big,” according to the coach.

“I appreciate how we defended against a Weed team with some skilled players, especially in the second half,” Pat Shanahan said. 

However, it wasn’t all perfect as the SB players continue to build in just their second weekend of action.

“It is early and inconsistency is to be expected,” the St. Bernard’s coach added. “We have to learn from that experience and apply those learnings.”

Later in the day, the Crusaders won for the second time in tournament play, defeating Durham.

Dyer scored a team-high 24 points, while Costa added 20 and Latimer chipped in eight points.

“The difference from this morning’s game and why the result was much more decisive is we played with passion and intensity the entire game,” Pat Shanahan said. “Basketball is so much more fun to watch and play when the kids play hard and together.”

Several of the SB players stood out on defense in the evening win, including another big performance by Hinrichs and Garrett Shanahan, the latter of whom was a force on the glass.

Trenten Hagler, according to the coach, “played smart and aggressive,” while Luke Dang and Burke Morrow also had some strong minutes, as did Braylon Johnson and Tony Pena.

St. Bernard’s is now 4-1.

Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Fortuna Huskies lost to Red Bluff at the Arcata tournament on Friday evening.

Hoopa 67, Big Valley 20

Hoopa 84, Hayfork 48

After a disappointing performance against McKinleyville in a non-tournament loss on Tuesday night, the Hoopa boys responded with a couple of nice performances to open the Trinity tournament.

No scoring stats were available, but Hoopa head coach Inker McCovey was happy with the manner in which his players responded from the McKinleyville game.

“We kind of had a really bad game on Tuesday,” he said “We weren’t there. I think we were tired after playing five games in six days.

“(On Thursday) we played very good. I think we’re playing really good right now. I think that we’re figuring it out.”

Malakai McCoy continues to lead the way on offense and had big nights in both tournament games, while Brian Richards continues to be a force in the paint and is helping to set the tone at both ends of the floor.

“Malakai is shooting lights out,” McCovey said. “He’s doing the right things and he’s getting himself open.”

Hoopa is now 6-4.

Saturday’s game against Trinity is rematch with the Wolves, who are 5-1 and whose only loss came against Hoopa last week.

“They’re going to be up for it,” McCovey said.