By Ray Hamill — The results are in and North Coast sports fans have spoken loud and clear. The Fortuna Huskies are the heavy favorites to win this year’s Big 5 in boys basketball.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote this week in our poll, in which we asked our readers who they think will win the league championship.

And a substantial 44 percent of people who responded believe the Huskies are the team to beat.

And by some margin too.

The McKinleyville Panthers, who had more wins in December (13) than any other local team, are the second favorites after pulling in 29 percent of the votes cast.

A young Arcata Tigers team, meanwhile, received 13.5 percent of the votes, with Del Norte (9 percent) and Eureka (4.5 percent) rounding out the field.

The Big 5 was scheduled to get under way on Wednesday night, but the opening two games have been postponed due to the severe weather conditions here on the North Coast.

League play will now begin on Friday night, with Del Norte traveling to Eureka and Fortuna playing at McKinleyville.

Mack is 13-3, while Fortuna is 10-5, Arcata 7-6, Del Norte 7-9 and Eureka 5-7.