Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Ramaldo Salcedo Jr in action for Del Norte on Saturday night.

By Ray Hamill — It took them an extra game to get there, but the Del Norte boys have qualified for the 2026 Dick Niclai Tournament.

The Warriors traveled to Eureka for a tournament play-in game on Saturday night and came away with a 70-59 win over the Loggers to secure a place in Monday’s first round.

Both teams had tied for third in the final Big 5 standings after a busy Friday night that saw each of them win their conference finales to set up the play-in showdown.

And 24 hours later, the Warriors delivered with their second road win in as many days to set up a third trip south in four days on Monday, when they will open tournament play at Arcata.

“We’re the ‘Road Warriors,’” Del Norte head coach Cris Rice said with a chuckle after Saturday’s win, which was their third straight. “We feel good. We have momentum and our kids have confidence.”

The loss for Eureka came just 24 hours after an epic overtime win at Arcata to keep them in contention for tournament qualification.

But unfortunately for the Loggers, they were unable to keep the momentum going, and the loss ends their H-DNL season.

“I want to give a lot of credit, not only to the players for Del Norte, who shot the lights out — they shot the ball extremely well tonight — but also Cris Rice and his staff,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said. 

“They really put their guys in such good positions and used their skill sets to their advantage, so a lot of credit to those guys, they really are a dangerous offensive team and a stout defensive team.”

Fresh off his 33-point performance at Fortuna on Friday night, Del Norte’s Sawyer Fry continued his impressive late-season run with another big performance against the Loggers.

The junior finished with 22 points, including six 3-pointers, and four assists.

Justin Cushman also impressed for the visitors and finished with a game-high 23 points, including four 3s, to go with six rebounds and four assists.

The impressive Warriors shot the ball extremely well, hitting on 13 of 27 3-pointers.

“I thought we played well up until the fourth quarter, and then we struggled a little bit,” Rice said. “But I thought we shot the ball pretty well. I thought we were disciplined, and we mixed it up.

“We’re proud of the way we shot. It’s because we’re taking better shots.”

Damian Escalera also impressed in the win and added 14 points, five assists and four boards.

Xavier De La Rosa had a good night for the home team and finished with a team-high 21 points, while Owen Hiscox capped two big days with 16 points, one night after he scored 20 points, including six 3s, at Arcata.

“You’ve got to give Eureka credit,” Rice said “No. 1 (De La Rosa) is amazing and Owen shot the ball as well as anyone I’ve seen.”

Kyle Giacone added eight points for Eureka, while teammate Eddie Gonzalez had six points and Dominic Hardcastle chipped in five.

But it was a challenging matchup for the Eureka boys, who were playing Del Norte for the fifth time this year, four of which they have lost.

“For us, we had a hard time getting downhill the way that we really would have wanted to, and it really showed, I think, late in the game,” DeHart said. “We had a hard time getting past their first wave of defenders to get into the paint and use the inside outside game like we’re accustomed to using.”

Rek Alameda added five points for the Warriors, who improved to 18-9 on the season, while sophomore Ty Blue made his presence felt in the paint and finished with a team-high nine rebounds.

Del Norte shot 13 of 18 at the free-throw line.

The Warriors will now turn their attention to Monday’s game at Arcata and a hot Tigers team that had won four straight conference games before Friday’s loss to Eureka.

The two schools split a pair of Big 5 games this season, with each getting the victory on their home court.

Rice also expressed his appreciation to St. Bernard’s, for allowing the Warriors to use their court to practice on earlier on Saturday.

The Loggers, who dropped to 15-12, will now turn their attention to the upcoming North Coast Section playoffs, with the seeds and brackets set to be announced a week from Sunday.

“We’re gonna go back to work this week and use it as an opportunity to tune some things up, and hopefully go make a run deep into the section playoffs,” DeHart said.

Monday’s game at Arcata tips off at 7 p.m.