The Eureka boys are beginning to find their way.

On Saturday night, the Loggers beat crosstown rivals St. Bernard’s 81-62 for their second win of the young season.

Head coach Robbie Thompson was missing most of his roster for the opening two weekends of the season because of football commitments, but has now had his full squad for two weeks.

And the difference is beginning to show.

“In the past week, they’re just getting their basketball legs,” the head coach said. “Us being together for a while, it’s a different energy now, and you can feel it.”

It showed on Saturday, with arguably their most cohesive performance of the season, at least for most of the game.

“We played three good quarters of basketball,” Thompson said. “In the first quarter we were kind of going through the motions, but we picked up our energy in the second quarter. You could just feel the wave of energy, and that was the biggest difference.”

Trailing by five points after the opening period, the Loggers outscored the Crusaders in each of the next three quarters, taking a six-point lead into halftime.

Zach Reed led the way for the Loggers with 21 points, while teammates Miles Meynell had 12 and Cahliel Garner had 11.

Lane Thrap continued his impressive season for St. Bernard’s, finishing with a game-high 37 points.

Logan Simoni and Will Omey each added seven points for St. Bernard’s

With the loss, the Crusaders dropped to 4-3, while Eureka is now 2-8.

The Loggers’ scheduled game with Hoopa next Friday has been canceled, and next up is a home game against Arcata on Jan. 3.

The Crusaders play Kelseyville at the Fort Bragg tournament on Thursday.

###

Ray Hamill writes at humboldtsports.com, where you can read lots more about sports in Humboldt County.