File photo – Xavier De La Rosa scored a game-high 16 points against Shasta on Friday night.

Ryder Mitchell and Xavier De La Rosa continued to play at a high level for the Eureka boys on Friday night, but too many missed free throws continued to plague the team.

The Loggers hosted Shasta in a non-conference showdown at College of the Redwoods and fell 67-58 in a game that was close throughout.

But the Loggers missed too many opportunities on the way to a second straight loss, making just 10 of 18 attempts from the charity stripe.

“That’s not gonna win games for us, if we miss that many free throws in a close game,” Eureka head coach Jimmy Rodgers said. “We’re doing much better defensively and rebounding, it’s the free throws that shot us in the foot the last two games.”

The visiting Wolves started strong and led by eight after the opening quarter, but the Loggers enjoyed the better of exchanges in the second quarter and cut the deficit to four by halftime.

They continued to battle after the break in what was a back-and-forth game, and pulled ahead in the fourth quarter, but the visitors would respond well down the stretch and pulled out the victory to go to 8-4 on the season.

De La Rosa and Mitchell were two definite bright spots for the home team, as they were three days ago in a conference-opening loss at McKinleyville.

De La Rosa finished with a game-high 16 points in Friday’s loss, while Mitchell had a double-double, adding 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Brayden Bermers and Eddie Gonzalez also impressed for Eureka and finished with eight points each, as did Owen Hiscox, who also had seven rebounds.

“Shasta came out with plenty of energy tonight, and that’s what we were lacking,” Rodgers said. “We had no energy tonight.”

Rehann Grewal scored a team-high 14 points for Shasta.

The Eureka boys won’t have much time to dwell on the loss, with a road trip to play Piner on Saturday.

Friday’s game was played at CR because the Loggers are hosting their annual wrestling tournament in Jay Willard Gymnasium this weekend.

The Loggers will play their first true home game of the year on Tuesday night, when Del Norte travels to Eureka in what will be a pivotal Big 5 showdown for both teams.

The Loggers are 0-1 in conference and now 9-7 overall, while the Warriors are 1-1 in the Big 5 after splitting a pair of home conference games this week.

File photo