Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Arcata boys check out the Eureka and Piner game before their own game on Thursday night.

The Arcata Tigers bounced back from two straight losses at last weekend’s McKinleyville tournament and defeated Red Bluff at the 55th annual Jerry Paul Arcata Invitational Basketball Tournament on Thursday night.

Arcata won the game 59-40.

Reigning Big 5 MVP Luke Moxon scored a team-high 19 points in the win, while Dawson Vallerga continued his impressive start to the new season with 14 points.

The Tigers were ready for their home opener.

“We came out with good energy,” said head coach Kellen Maynard, whose team took an early 10-point lead and made it stick. “It was our first home game of the year and it’s always going to be a high emotion, high intensity game.”

Levi Sims, Eric Jackson and Kalani Butor each chipped in five points as the Tigers improved to 3-2.

“We had a few lulls so we still need to work on some things, but overall I thought the performance was a step up from last week,” Maynard added.

Last week, a short-handed Arcata team suffered a pair of two-point losses at the McKinleyville tournament, falling to Eagle Point and McKinleyville.

But the players responded in the best way possible in front of a home crowd on Thursday.

“It was really just a good team effort,” Maynard said. “And we played pretty good team defense … Everybody I put in was ready to go.”

After being short-handed for various reasons last weekend, the Tigers are close to full strength again.

They will play in the tournament semifinals at 8 p.m. on Friday against Enterprise, which edged McKinleyville 47-45 in the final game of the opening day late on Thursday.

Nick Maher had a double-double for the Panthers, finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Cole Armstrong added 13 points in the loss, as the Panthers dropped to 5-3.

File photo

The past winners of the Arcata tournament.