Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — After struggling to score for the best part of seven minutes midway through Tuesday night’s game, the Eureka Loggers found themselves 14 points adrift in a game they desperately needed to win.

Head coach Jimmy Rodgers’ team was riding a three-game losing streak and looking at an 0-2 start to conference play, which would have left Eureka all but out of the championship conversation before it had barely begun.

But with their backs to the wall and their title hopes on the line, the Loggers would respond.

They outscored the Del Norte Warriors 30-14 over the final 12 minutes of the game and pulled out a huge 56-54 win, with some clutch free throws by junior Xavier De La Rosa in the final seconds helping to carry them over the finish line.

“It was a close one for sure,” said Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart, whose team was playing its first true home game since late November.

The loss was a disappointing one for the visitors, who faded down the stretch and dropped to 1-2 in the Big 5, with some costly turnovers in the final quarter.

“We sure did give that game away,” Del Norte head coach Cris Rice said. “It was a rough end.”

After being outscored 15-0 to close out the second quarter, the Loggers were held without a basket for the opening four and a half minutes of the third quarter.

But they would close out the period on an 11-2 run to pull within five heading into the fourth and they continued to play well late, pulling within three midway through the final quarter to make for an exciting ending.

And with momentum clearly on their side, and spurred on by an excited home crowd, they took their first lead of the second half in the dying seconds when De La Rosa nailed two big free throws.

The Warriors had a golden opportunity to re-take the lead just moments later but missed a layup, and Del La Rosa would ice the victory with a third free throw after that.

“You’ve got to give Eureka credit for hanging around,” said Rice, who added “We’ll be alright. We’ve just got to keep grinding and learn from our mistakes.”

De La Rosa finished with a team-high 17 points for the home team, while teammate Owen Hiscox added 11 points, including three big 3-pointers in the first quarter to help give his team a nine-point first-half advantage.

“He’s an offensive spark,” DeHart added of Hiscox. “Once he gets going, he continues to roll.”

Ryder Mitchell added eight points in the win, Kyle Giacone and Eddie Gonzalez each finished with seven points and Brayden Bermers chipped in six points.

With the win, the Loggers improved to 1-1 in the Big 5 and 10-8 overall.

Damian Escalera had a huge night for the visitors and made some big-time baskets in the fourth quarter to help keep his team in the lead.

Escalera finished with a game-high 26 points, including six 3s.

“He had a heck of a game,” DeHart said of the Del Norte junior guard, adding that “when he hit some big shots during (their run), we felt our guys were composed and looking to make the next play.”

Sawyer Fry added eight points and eight rebounds for the Warriors, who had beaten Eureka in two earlier matchups this season, while teammate Markus Parras finished with seven points and Justin Cushmann chipped in six points.

“Del Norte deserves a lot of credit, they really responded,” DeHart said. “They play hard every time.”

Sophomore Ty Blue continued to make his presence felt in the paint for Del Norte and had eight rebounds, four blocks and five assists.

With the loss, the Warriors dropped to 14-6 overall.

Rice also praised the contribution of assistant coach Chris Davidson, who stepped up to help prepare the team for the game after the head coach had to miss some time this week while out of town.

Next up, on Thursday Eureka continues conference play at Fortuna, while the Warriors will have a bye.

The Warriors will return to action when they play a non-conference game at St. Bernard’s on Saturday.