Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Panthers celebrate their historic championship on Friday night.

By Ray Hamill — You couldn’t have scripted this one much better.

On Friday night, the McKinleyville Panthers ended a long Dick Niclai championship drought with their biggest performance of the season against their biggest rivals on the biggest stage in H-DN basketball.

In fact, this could have been their biggest performance in years.

Playing in front of a packed Lumberjack Arena and an electric atmosphere, the Panthers rallied from a nine-point third-quarter deficit to pull out a 60-52 overtime win over an Arcata Tigers team that had won 11 straight games and a second consecutive Big 5 championship.

But after being swept by the Tigers in league play, the Mack players would not be denied this time around, and after five pulsating periods of intensely entertaining basketball, they got to lift the Dick Niclai trophy for the first time since 1997 and just the third time ever.

“Just incredible,” Mack assistant coach Tyler Pelascini said. “Just a special moment.”

There were several heroes in this win, but none more so than seniors Cody Whitmer and Jack Clancy, who combined to will their team to victory with a stunning second-half performance.

The game was tight through the opening two quarters with never more than a few points between the two teams.

But just as they had done in the last showdown with McKinleyville, the Arcata boys began to pull away in the third quarter and stretched their lead to nine points with three minutes remaining in the period.

With their backs to the wall, the McKinleyville boys responded with a stretch run that will go down in school history.

With the inspirational Whitmer and Clancy leading the way and setting the tempo for their teammates, the Panthers went on a 22-10 run to open up a three-point lead with just 20 seconds remaining in regulation.

But in the true spirit of league champions, the Tigers would not go down easily and a young team that has exceeded expectations all season long answered the call when sophomore Dawson Vallerga nailed a clutch 3-pointer with just 10 seconds remaining to force the extra period.

Few in the packed arena would have been disappointed to see an extra four minutes in this epic battle.

The Panthers would not be denied and outscored their rivals 8-0 in the added period to seal an historic win and send their fans and players into a frenzied celebration.

“I think it came down to we were able to execute down the stretch a little bit more than they did and a little bit more than we did (in the previous games against Arcata),” Pelascini said.

Most impressively, the Mack players did not allow Vallerga’s late equalizer take them out of their rhythm in overtime, answering the call in the biggest moment of their young careers.

“I’ve got to give huge kudos to our guys,” Pelascini said. “We could have let that take the air out of us, but we didn’t. Our guys were able to stay mentally tough enough and they answered the call when we needed to make the plays. It was fabulous to see.”

No one more so than Whitmer, who finished with a game-high 23 points and nailed all 12 of his free throw attempts, including eight clutch throws in the fourth quarter and overtime periods.

“Cody and Jack, they were great down the stretch,” Pelascini said. “It was the most composed and disciplined game from both of them. And we needed it. We needed their leadership.”

It was indeed one of the games of the season.

“It was a great game,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “There’s not a whole lot to be upset about other than we didn’t get the job done. What an amazing atmosphere and what an amazing championship game.”

Clancy finished with 15 points, while also doing an outstanding job directing his teammates, while Jordan Brown added nine points despite playing at less than 100 percent after missing three of the previous four games with two different injuries.

Senior Payton Harbin also was instrumental in the win and has played a pivotal role on this team all year after transferring from Eureka High.

Harbin chipped in eight points and made his presence felt in the paint throughout.

And they weren’t the only heroes on a night McKinleyville High won’t easily forget.

Freshman Bode Douglass was outstanding defensively once again, matching up effectively with Arcata senior Brandon Bento-Jackson, who will surely be this year’s Big 5 MVP.

“I could talk about every kid, but Bode Douglass was special,” Pelascini said. “A freshman on a senior, on the MVP of the league, just making it tough on him.”

Dayquan Dunn was outstanding for the Tigers and finished with a team-high 14 points in one of his best games of the season.

Bento-Jackson added 13 points, while teammate Luke Moxon finished with 12 points, Vallerga nine and Josiah Gomez four.

Maynard said execution was the difference in the game.

“Tyler has such a great mind when it comes to set plays and action,” the Arcata coach said of his counterpart. “They just executed tonight. Cody had a phenomenal game. He was by far the player of the game and he made big shots when they needed it.

“I would say the difference tonight was the execution.”

It was certainly a memorable showdown to cap a memorable week in the Dick Niclai Tournament, and a great way to return to Lumberjack Arena after a three-year hiatus because of the pandemic.

“It was a great high school basketball game,” Maynard said. “The two best teams in the area. You couldn’t ask for any more from a championship game.

“Obviously we’re disappointed we didn’t put forth our best effort, but part of that was McKinleyville and the way they played.

“We definitely had a chance, we just couldn’t string together enough stops. But I give Tyler a ton of credit. He definitely out-coached me tonight.”

The experience should stand to an Arcata team that had three starting sophomores going up against a McKinleyville team that had three starting seniors.

“They never gave up,” Maynard said of his players. “I give our guys a lot of credit too. The guys battled.”