Eureka’s boys team defended home court with a flourish Friday night, being tested at times but ultimately putting the foot on the gas late in a 67-50 win over Gateway. The North Coast Section Division 5 No. 2 seed Loggers beat the No. 7 seed Gators and will move ahead to host a game against No. 3 seed Redwood Christian on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The Gators were down double-digits in the third quarter before hitting a three to draw within 47-37. Another three cut it to 47-42 before two quick buckets in succession minutes later made it 51-46. But the Loggers answered, Xavier De la Rosa Alcantara scoring inside off a miss for two of his team-leading 21 on the night. Owen Hiscox hit one of his five threes on the night and the lead was back up to 60-48 with three minutes left. Hiscox found Eddy Gonzales ahead for two and a jump ball was called at the 1:25 mark after a contest on a fast break by Hiscox. Kyle Giacone would find Ryder Mitchell on a pass for a 64-50 lead to ice the game and start the wholesale substitutions for Eureka. Fisher Osborne had a two off the bench late.
Hiscox scored 16, Gonzalez had 15, and Mitchell 11 on the night.
Eureka head coach Jimmy Rodgers said he put Alcantara on their best scorer, known for his three-point prowess, and held him to 14. Alcantara also scored 17 in the first half.
“We were attacking the rim, that’s what we wanted to do when we see what kind of zone they were playing,” Rodgers said. “We knew we could beat that by making two passes, one to one spot and then the guy was open. They came out of their zone and tried to go man, but we have so many options in our offense that we can use to our advantage with our style of play, and we were able to capitalize on that in the first half.” He said Gateway moved from a zone to a man defense, back to zone, and even tried a press that they had to call off because Eureka was getting transition baskets.
After film study and scouting, the squad had worked hard on press-breaking offense this past week. Gonzalez scored 13 of his 15 in the second half as part of a balanced Eureka attack. Rodgers said his senior Hiscox “wants it really, really bad,” adding that Hiscox called him late at night before the game, getting the key and some extra work at the gym and dropping it off at 11 p.m. In the morning, he came again for a 9 a.m. shootaround and walk-through, then again at 4 p.m. for another workout by himself, utilizing the shooting machine. Rodgers was very happy for him after this contest.
Rodgers was proud of his defense and said he told the guys that would facilitate offense.
“We get stops and turnovers and create havoc, that’s going to create shots for us,” he said. “Defensively, we do create havoc and get transition buckets.”
Mitchell got credit from his coach for his work inside, with 11 points and 11 rebounds, also telling Rodgers he had eight or nine assists.
“He played big, he is our big, and he could’ve gone to the line even a little more than he did.” Rodgers said. “But I’m happy for the win, looking forward to Tuesday, school will be in so we’ll bring out more and more people, it’s going to be a pretty live atmosphere come Tuesday.”
The win takes Eureka to 16-12 on the year.
St. Bernard’s vs College Park
Meanwhile, the St. Bernard’s boys team concluded its season on Coach Robby Court Friday night with a 74-63 loss to a College Park team that seemingly couldn’t miss in the early going. Seeded No. 3 in Division 3, two divisions up for the postseason, the Crusaders rallied in the third quarter against a Division 1 Falcon team seeded No. 6 in Division 3 with prolific three-point shooting, but despite taking the lead late, couldn’t sustain it down the stretch as College Park pulled away.
SB fell to 24-4 on the year after going 6-0 in conference and winning the Little Four.
Early on, despite the sterling three-point shooting of the visitors, Carson Costa was a bright spot for SB, coming out on fire in the first quarter and able to answer most of College Park’s threes with one of his own, even knocking down three free throws after being fouled on one occasion. As the Falcons were face-guarding Liam Dyer, attempting to not let him have the ball, Costa’s early production was pivotal to the Crusader chances. SB was up 6-5 after a Tyler Hinrichs early two and a Costa three, and though College Park led 10-6 after a triple, Costa hit another three from the wing and his three free throws to draw the Crusaders within one at 13-12. Point guard Prince Latimer, returning from injury for the first time in over a month for the Crusaders, tried to give the home team a spark, but was seen shaking his taped-up hand in the early going. Costa would keep the Crusaders in it, with 14 of his team’s first 19 points when it was 21-19, on his way to 31 for the night, but the Crusaders were down 27-21 heading into the second quarter.
“I really liked what we were able to get on the offensive end, and in particular, Carson Costa,” said St. Bernard’s head coach Pat Shanahan. “He was on a mission from the very beginning, and the previous game I don’t think he scored as much as he’s accustomed to. He came out looking to score and that aggressiveness set a good tone for our team. Unfortunately, we couldn’t slow them down on the defensive end, and giving up 27 points in the opening quarter was a big problem for us.”
He said his squad adjusted in the second period, specifically on Falcon shooter Miles Cooper. The Cougars were called for 10 seconds in the backcourt early in the quarter, but went up 29-21 on a hustle play to put back a missed transition bucket on a wide-open lay-in. SB was called for a backcourt violation and the Falcons hit a step-back three from the right side, Trenton Hagler scored two for the Crusaders with a jump stop and bank shot, but a 38-25 Falcon lead necessitated a timeout. It was 42-29 at half, the Falcons having extended their advantage even as both teams had cooled down somewhat.
“Down 13 at halftime clearly was not ideal,” Shanahan said. “But we coaches liked the way we were playing, a number of shots just weren’t quite falling in, though we were right there.”
In the third quarter, the Crusaders had an output of 26 points, moving the ball and sharing it on offense better than in their first half, taking a brief lead of a point before College Park scored 10 straight. With a couple of uncharacteristic SB missed shots and a handful of turnovers, the Falcons capitalized on each of those possessions, the gap being tough to close down the stretch.
Shanahan mentioned how College Park is Division 1, very well coached, with that solid shooter Cooper and “a number of other studs on their team.” He said he thought his squad competed well and was confident that they could and should win, the stats being aligned except for the Falcons hitting four more threes than the Crusaders, despite SB taking 11 more shots and doing a great job on the offensive glass. College Park just made a few more shots, he said.
With Costa’s 31, the home team got 15 points from Dyer, six from Garrett Shanahan, five from Hinrichs, and four from Hagler. Rebounding, Dyer had nine, Shanahan eight, Hinrichs eight, and Costa seven. Shanahan had six assists, followed by Hagler with three.
As to season-concluding thoughts from a campaign that saw them best every Humboldt County opponent they saw but Eureka, Coach Shanahan said, “It’s tough when a season ends so abruptly. A number of these kids last year didn’t have to end the season on a loss. This year, we have, and that wasn’t the plan. I’m sure we’re all still processing that, and it was an incredible season. It started out in practice with the focus of this group, wanting to play in more competitive preseason games, with them responding early to that challenge and competition. The kids were one of the smarter teams I’ve been around in that they continued to focus on improving and getting better. I thought we did throughout the year, and we were playing some of our best basketball this week.
“I just couldn’t be more proud of this group, and especially this group of seniors, who were great kids, great all-around basketball players, and that group will be friends for life, this team will be friends for life.”
Ken McCanless can be reached at 707-441-0526.
