Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Brandon Bento-Jackson in action for Arcata at the McKinleyville tournament.

By Ray Hamill — Local basketball fans will get a bit of a Big 5 preview this week, with four of the league rivals in action at the Arcata tournament, which tips off on Thursday.

And Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard believes this year’s league title is up for grabs with almost any team capable of winning.

“I think it’s wide open,” he said. “You can’t tell me there’s one clear favorite.”

The Tigers are 3-1 after winning two of their three games at last week’s McKinleyville tournament and will open their own tournament against Buckingham Charter at 7:30 on Thursday.

Buckingham is new to the tournament this year, along with Enterprise, while regular tournament participants Red Bluff and Piner will also make the trip.

McKinleyville and Enterprise get things started at 4:30 p.m., followed by Eureka and Piner at 6, with Fortuna and Red Bluff closing out the opening day’s action at 9 p.m.

And Maynard believes all four out-of-area teams will challenge the local contingent.

“I think it’s going to be a really competitive field,” the Arcata coach said. 

A young Tigers team showed some promise at the Mack tournament, but they also showed their inexperience.

“There were flashes last weekend where I thought this team is pretty good, where I thought this team has a chance to be good,” Maynard said. “And then I saw a lot of mental mistakes and errors we made. We’re so young.”

Josiah Gomez

The only two players on this year’s roster with any substantial varsity experience are Brandon Bento-Jackson and Josiah Gomez, each of whom have impressed early in the season, while sophomore Luke Moxon also saw some playing time a year ago and looks likely to play a major role this year.

For McKinleyville, Jack Clancy, Jordan Brown and Cody Whitmer each also has impressed early in the new campaign as have Eureka’s Hans Chalmers, Jahmil Rippey and Jamin Guilbert.

The Panthers are 3-1, while the Loggers are 1-2.

Fortuna also should contend in the Big 5 with a balanced lineup, with Alfonso Medina, Russell Pascascio and Cody Collins all impressing early for the 4-2 Huskies.

Eureka head coach Jimmy Rodgers talks to Hans Chalmers during a Loggers game at the Mack tournament.