The McKinleyville and Arcata boys rarely disappoint when they play each other in basketball and that was the case once again on Saturday.

Meeting for the first time this season at the Mack tournament, it was the host Panthers who pulled out a thrilling 56-54 win thanks to a 3-pointer by sophomore Bode Douglass with 1.8 seconds remaining.

The win secured third place in the tournament for the Panthers, who improved to 5-2 on the young season.

The loss was the second straight for the Tigers, who closed out tournament play 1-2 and dropped to 2-2 on the season.

Also in action on Saturday, the South Fork Cubs  improved to 5-0 with a 51-44 win over Priory on their way to winning the Redwood Classic at Anderson Valley for the first time ever, while the St. Bernard’s Crusaders beat Upper Lake 63-36 in the championship game at the Upper Lake tournament.

Eureka also won a championship game at the Mt. Diablo tournament, with a 67-40 win over the host school.

The Fortuna Huskies were also in action and placed third at the Harlan Carter tournament in Redding with a 59-47 win over Shasta.

The Del Norte boys were in action at the Yreka tournament and fell 57-28 to Henley to drop to 1-3.

And rounding out a busy day for local teams, the Hoopa Warriors fell 67-47 to San Lorenzo, also at the McKinleyville tournament.

Earlier in the day, the host Panthers beat Lincoln 64-55 in the first of two games for them on Saturday.

Cosumnes Oaks won the Mack tournament with a 55-53 win over Eagle Point in the championship game.

After giving up the late lead against McKinleyville, the Arcata boys had a chance to sneak the win at the buzzer, but a Luke Moxon shot fell just short.

“It was dead on line,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “If it had been a foot longer it would have gone in.”

The matchup was what you would expect from an Arcata and McKinleyville game, whether it’s early in the season or in the Dick Niclai championship.

“It was a good game, it was physical,” Maynard said. “(Mack coach) Chris (Davis) is doing a good job. He’s got them playing scrappy.

Check out Douglass’ game-winning shot against Arcata above … 

Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Arcata Tigers in Action at the McKinleyville tournament earlier this week.

“There’s still a lot of things we need to clean up, but I give McKinleyville credit for making the plays when they needed.

“But we could have won the game. We had chances.”

Luke Lemke scored a team-high 18 points for the Tigers, while teammate Dawson Vallerga finished with 12 and Moxon had 10.

No immediate scoring stats were available for McKinleyville.

The Tigers also lost on Friday night, falling 51-49 to Eagle Point in tournament play.
Lemke scored a team-high 19 points in that game, while Vallerga finished with 14.

At Mt. Diablo, meanwhile, the Eureka Loggers continued their impressive start to the season with a tournament championship.

Jahmil Rippy scored a team-high 18 points in the win, while Elijah Estrada had another big game and finished with 16 points and five rebounds.

Michael Jewell had a double-double, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Loggers jumped out to an early lead and held it throughout the night, and they are showcasing their depth early in the season with big performances from some of their bench players.

“Having those guys who can bring energy when needed and are really proving their worth helps,” assistant coach Andrew DeHart said.

The Loggers improved to 4-1.