Submitted photo – McKinleyville’s Jordan Brown, left and Flynn Creighton, right defend Del Norte’s Lyon Rigden during Tuesday’s game in Crescent City.

By Ray Hamill — After seeing his team escape with a huge conference-opening victory in Crescent City on Tuesday night, first-year McKinleyville boys basketball head coach Chris Davis says he is expecting this year’s Big 5 to be one of the most competitive in years.

Davis and the Panthers opened in one of the most difficult arenas in the H-DNL and came away with a 53-47 victory over the Del Norte Warriors.

The win leaves the Panthers tied atop the early standings, along with the Arcata Tigers, who also came away with an impressive road victory, winning 53-52 at Fortuna.

“Every night in this league is going to be a battle, as the parity this year is some of the highest I’ve seen in the H-DNL” Davis said. 

The Panthers trailed after each of the first three quarters, but rallied late at both ends of the court to pull out the six-point win.

Senior talisman Jordan Brown keyed the late surge and appears determined to close out his high school career with a league title.

“We had big second halves from our senior point guard Jordan Brown — hitting some clutch shots beyond the arc — and big-time play from our post Nick Maher, crashing the boards and cleaning up on the offensive glass,” Davis added.

Del Norte head coach Cris Rice described the loss as a “heartbreaker” after seeing his team’s offense dry up up in the fourth quarter in a game the Warriors could easily have won.

“Credit to Del Norte tonight,” Davis said afterwards. “They came out ready to play and played very hard on the offensive and defensive end.”

It was the Panthers, however, who found a way to pull out the win and get their conference campaign off to a successful start.

“We also showed poise as the game went on, which was great to see,” Davis added.

So too did Arcata sophomore Luke Lemke, who has carried his outstanding play on the football field in the fall over to the basketball court in the winter.

Lemke, who saw limited time on the court as a freshman on last year’s Tigers’ championship winning team, picked up some of the slack in the absence of injured teammate Luke Moxon, who was co-MVP of the Big 5 last year.

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – McKinleyville head coach Chris Davis and his players look on during a recent game.

Luke Lemke hit a late game-winner for Arcata on Tuesday night.

Lemke drained a game-winning 3-pointer in the dying seconds to help secure a pivotal road win over one of the league favorites.

“The kid’s a sophomore and he’s just playing at a senior level right now,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “It’s amazing to watch.”

Conference play continues on Thursday night.

The Eureka Loggers, who had an opening-night bye, will tip off at Del Norte in what is now a must-win game for the Warriors if they want to remain in contention for the Big 5 crown, while the Huskies will also try to bounce back when they host McKinleyville in what is a must-win game for them as well.

The Arcata boys will have a bye on Thursday.

Head coach Norm Sotomayor and the Fortuna Huskies will try to bounce back from Tuesday’s loss when they host McKinleyville on Thursday night.

Submitted photo – Del Norte’s Michael Webster scored a game-high 19 points on Tuesday night.