Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Tuesday’s game at Eureka High.

The Arcata Tigers kept their playoff hopes alive with a much-needed win at Eureka in boys basketball on Tuesday night.

The Tigers got the better of their rivals 65-41, holding the Loggers to a season-low in points.

The win for Arcata, coupled with Del Norte’s 67-44 victory over Fortuna in Crescent City on the same night, leaves the Tigers, Loggers and Warriors tied for second in the Big 5 standings with identical 2-2 records at the halfway stage of conference play.

“It was a good team win, lots of guys contributed. But we can’t take our foot off the gas,” said Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard, whose team faces another key showdown on Thursday when they host Del Norte.

The Arcata boys, who are 8-13 overall, must win two of their final four conference games in order to be playoff eligible.

The loss for the Loggers hurts their championship hopes, as all three of the second-placed teams are now two wins back of McKinleyville (4-0) in the standings with just four games remaining.

“You’ve got to give Arcata a lot of credit, they came out with a lot of energy,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said. “They did a good job of forcing us out of our offensive flow playing physically.”

The Tigers led by 12 at halftime and put the game away with a big run late in the third and early in the fourth.

“Defensively, we thought we did a good job following the game plan,” the Eureka coach added. “Arcata knocked down some shots when they needed them.”

Luke Lemke scored a game-high 20 points for the Tigers, while fellow senior Jack Luh added 14 points.

But the catalyst in the win was senior Jonah Hessler, who turned in arguably his best performance of the season, especially on defense.

“The player of the game for me was Jonah Hessler,” Maynard said. “He gave us an overall spark tonight that we have been missing recently. He went out there and gave us a jolt of adrenaline offensively and defensively.”

Xavier De La Rosa had another good night for the Loggers and finished with a team-high 16 points, while sophomore Kyle Giacone continued to play at a high level and added 10 points, although his contributions went well beyond that.

Giacone was particularly effective in the third quarter, keeping his team in the game when it could have gotten away from them.

“Kyle Giacone continued to get downhill and attack the basket, especially when we needed someone to step up,” DeHart said. “And he did that tonight. For a sophomore, he understands the game well.”

Eddie Gonzalez added five points for Eureka, which dropped to 11-9 overall.

The Loggers will try to get back to winning ways when they host McKinleyville on Thursday night.