Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The McKinleyville boys are 2-0 in the Big 5.

By Ray Hamill — The McKinleyville Panthers are off to a flying start in H-DNL basketball, with both the boys and girls teams sitting atop the Big 5 standings after the opening two rounds of conference play.

And because of that the Panthers feature heavily in this week’s Humboldt Sports Athletes and Team of the Week, sponsored as always by College of the Redwoods Athletics.

Our team of the week honors go to both the Mack boys and girls teams who are hitting their stride at an opportune time, while Panthers junior center Nick Maher is one of our athletes of the week after a career night in a road win at Fortuna on Thursday.

Our second athlete of the week is Del Norte junior Curtis Bartley, who is enjoying an outstanding season on the wrestling mats and placed first in the 138-pound division at last weekend’s prestigious Lou Bronzan wrestling tournament at Liberty High School.

Under the guidance of head coach Jacob Cheek, who has established himself as one of the top high school girls basketball coaches in the area, the Mack girls have won six straight games and eight of their last nine.

This week, they posted comfortable wins over Del Norte (53-26) and Fortuna (53-23) to go to 2-0 in the Big 5.

The Mack boys have been equally impressive under first-year head coach Chris Davis, who has his players playing at a high level in the Big 5.

The Panthers opened conference play with a pair of big road wins at Del Norte and Fortuna, both by identical 53-47 scores.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK 

Curtis Bartley

Del Norte Wrestling, Junior

Big things were expected out of Bartley this winter and so far he has not disappointed while leading the way on a deep and talented Del Norte team that is expected to retain its league crown next month.

Bartley, who is ranked No. 26 in the state in his weight class, already has three tournament wins this season, having placed first at the Del Norte, Grants Pass and Liberty tourneys.

For more on his big week, see Can anyone stop the Del Norte Warriors in this year’s H-DNL? …

Nick Maher

McKinleyville Basketball, Junior

Maher was the catalyst in McKinleyville’s big win at Fortuna on Thursday night and finished with a double-double.

The junior center scored a game-high 27 points and pulled down 15 rebounds, while shooting 11 of 16 from the field.

“Nick was absolutely incredible tonight on both sides of the court,” Davis said. “He positioned himself very well on the offensive end with pick and rolls, found the open space when others drove the lane and was extra active on the glass.”

For more on his big week, see Panthers win on the road again …

TEAM OF THE WEEK

McKinleyville Basketball

The Panthers are setting the early standard in the Big 5, in both boys and girls basketball.

Bigger challenges await for both teams, including key matchups against Eureka and Arcata, but so far so good for McKinleyville.

The coaches have done an outstanding job getting their players to buy in, and arguably no H-DNL rosters are playing better as a team right now then the Mack boys and girls.

For more on the McKinleyville boys, see Panthers win on the road again …

For more on the girls, see Surging Panthers continue to roll, go to 2-0 in the Big 5 …