By Ray Hamill — The competitive nature of this year’s Big 5 was on full display at Jay Willard Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

The Eureka Loggers welcomed the Del Norte Warriors for a big conference showdown in boys basketball and the home team prevailed 56-54.

It was an entertaining game between two schools that are hoping to contend for this year’s championship, with big swings throughout the night.

The Loggers started fast and led by as many as nine in the second quarter, before a 15-0 run to close out the half put the visitors up by six at the break.

The Warriors continued to impress early in the second half and they held the Loggers scoreless for the opening four-plus minutes of the third quarter.

At that stage, Del Norte led by 14.

But with their title hopes fading, however, the Eureka boys rose to the challenge and closed out the game strong, going on a 30-14 run over the final 12 minutes to pull out a huge win and keep them in contention.

Damian Escalera had a big night for the Warriors, finishing with a game-high 26 points, including six 3s.

The Del Norte junior kept his team in contention late and scored 10 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Several Eureka players also stepped up late, most notably junior Xavier De La Rosa, who scored a team-high 17 points in the win and helped see his team over the finish line with three big free throws in the dying seconds, the first two of which gave the home team its first lead of the second half.

Check out our fourth-quarter highlights in what was an exciting finish above.

For more on the game, see Resilient Loggers rally late for much-needed win vs. Del Norte …

Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com