Basketball Game Preview: Eureka Loggers vs. Piner Prospectors

Eureka is 1-7 against Piner since December of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The two teams will face off at 1:00 p.m. without much rest having both just played. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

Eureka saw some tournament action on Friday. They fell 51-40 to Montgomery. The match marked the Loggers' lowest-scoring game so far this season.

The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Trenton Gerber, who posted 14 points. Those 14 points gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Ryder Mitchell, who put up 11 points.

Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Piner's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They took a 59-46 hit to the loss column at the hands of Arcata. While losing is never fun, the Prospectors can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 456th, while the Tigers are ranked 202nd).

Eureka will have to contain Brendan Walker as he made an impact in Piner's last game. He dropped a double-double on 13 points and 11 rebounds. Jaden Hernandez was another key player, putting up eight points and nine rebounds.

Having lost for the first time this season, Eureka fell to 4-1. As for Piner, their loss dropped their record down to 4-3.

Eureka suffered a grim 80-55 defeat to Piner in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Eureka was down 45-22.