It was a disappointing few days for the Arcata boys on the basketball court at the Marin Catholic tournament.

Playing for much of the tournament without senior standout Luke Lemke, the Tigers dropped all four of their games down south.

Arcata opened tournament play against the host school on Friday and lost 89-45, before falling 61-39 to Urban the following day.

They resumed tournament play on Monday with a 66-35 loss to Casa Grande, before closing out with a 78-51 defeat to International on Tuesday.

“It was disappointing,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “We’re just struggling, We have not played well since the AIBT (in mid December).”

Lemke was sidelined with an ankle injury in the tournament opener and did not return.

However, Maynard said he is day-to-day and could have returned to the court for Tuesday’s game if needed but was held out to give him more time to fully recover with league play tipping off next week.

Lemke scored a team-high 16 points against Marin Catholic, while teammate Jack Luh added 13 points.

Elias Gomez scored a team-best eight points against Urban and Heron Cromwell had seven points, while Isaac Ingram and Eoin McGoldrick each finished with seven points in the loss to Casa Grande.

Luh, who only recently returned from injury, would score a team-high 16 points in Tuesday’s tourney finale, with Gomez chipping in eight points.

“This weekend we played some really tough competition,” Maynard said. “It was the most loaded field at this event since I’ve been coaching at Arcata.

“But we just didn’t answer the bell this weekend. It was definitely disappointing to go and lose four games and not take a step up for the competition.”

One bright spot for the Tigers was the play of Luh, who is finding his form as league play approaches.

“Jack looked a lot better,” Maynard said. “I thought he looked physically and mentally better this week. I thought he played his most complete set of four games.”

The coach also praised the performances of Cromwell and Gomez, each of whom lifted their games in the absence of Lemke.

Next up, the Tigers will open the Big 5 at Del Norte next Tuesday.