By Ray Hamill — Just a few minutes into Thursday’s night’s game against the Fortuna Huskies, Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard was forced to call an early timeout because of the way his team had started the game.

Maynard had hoped for a better response two days after the Tigers had lost in heartbreaking fashion at Del Norte in their Big 5 opener, but the players had come out flat and the Huskies were quickly taking control of a game both schools desperately needed to win.

As the players took the court again, senior team leader Luke Lemke tapped his coach on the shoulder and told him, “don’t worry, we got this.”

Lemke wasn’t exaggerating.

He finished the game with a career-high 51 points and led his team to a 71-53 victory, turning in a career performance in a career that has been full of them.

“I’ve never seen a performance like that,” Maynard said. “He just had a different gear tonight.”

The senior standout, who was the Big 5 MVP as a sophomore two years ago, dominated in just about every aspect of the game with as unstoppable a performance as the H-DNL has seen in some time.

On every possession the Fortuna players knew what was coming but were unable to stop it.

“He just took over,” Maynard said. “And most of what he does, he gets on his own. When he’s driving to the basket when he’s tripled teamed every time, that’s nothing I draw up, that’s nothing I taught him, that’s just Luke Lemke being the athlete that he is.”

Maynard has seen what Lemke is capable of before, but not on this level.

“I knew he was good, but he’s taken it to a different level this year,” the Arcata coach said. “Tonight it just clicked for him, and we needed it every time Fortuna went on a run.”

The victory was a much-needed one for the four-time defending Big 5 champs if they are to have any chance at making it five straight. 

A second loss in three days would have left the Tigers with an almost impossible task to win this year’s conference.

It also ended a run of five straight losses and eight in their last nine games, and as Maynard said “Any win against anybody is good for us right now.”

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

But while it appeared to be a one-man show — and the Tigers most certainly would not have won the game without his Herculean effort — Lemke would not have achieved what he did without the help of his teammates, all of whom seemed to feed off the senior’s monster night.

“What’s going to get lost in the shuffle is some of the defensive performances guys had,” Maynard said. 

Players like Eoin McGoldrick, who did an outstanding job limiting Fortuna’s Will Shaw, especially in the second half, as well as Elias Gomez, who is also enjoying a big season for the team and battled hard all night despite being in foul trouble early.

Heron Cromwell also impressed for the Tigers and has established himself as a key member of this year’s team, especially over the last couple of weeks.

“Heron Cromwell battles (our opponents’) biggest player every night,” Maynard said. “Without the effort of Heron down low, and the guys giving their best effort, Luke’s 51 might not have mattered tonight. The win is the most important thing.”

McGoldrick added six points in the win, while Cromwell chipped in five.

With the win, the Tigers improved to 1-1 in the Big 5 and 7-12 overall, while the Huskies dropped to 0-2 and 6-11.