Photos by Ray Hamill/HuymboldtSports.com – Action from Tuesday’s game between Arcata and McKinleyville.

By Ray Hamill — The McKinleyville Panthers sent out a warning to the rest of the Big 5 on Tuesday night.

Hosting their biggest rivals in front of a packed gymnasium at Mack High, the Panthers cruised to a dominating 51-34 win over Arcata in boys basketball to continue their unbeaten start to the Big 5.

The victory was the fifth straight for the Mack boys, who improve to 3-0 in the Big 5 (14-6 overall) and remain atop the conference standings.

As you would expect from these two great rivals, the game was close for the first half and both teams went into the interval deadlocked at 21-21.

But that quickly changed in the second half as the Panthers pulled away and left no doubt as to which was the better team on the night, ending the game as a contest long before the final buzzer.

“We’ve been coming together as a team,” McKinleyville head coach Chris Davis said. “We’re playing for each other a lot more than at the start of the season.”

The Tigers, who were playing without two starters, ultimately had no answer for the Panthers depth.

“We could see that Arcata was definitely focusing in on Nick (Maher) after his great game at Fortuna (last week), and I think the great thing about our squad is we have five guys that could be our leading scorer on any night,” Davis said.

With Maher receiving added attention, teammate Flynn Creighton picked up the slack and scored a team-high 16 points in the win.

Cole Armstrong also had a big night and added 12 points while Bode Douglass finished with 10 points.

Creighton set the early tone for the Panthers and brought an enthusiastic and loud student section to life with his play in the first half.

“Flynn had great energy at the start of the game,” Davis said of the versatile senior. “His energy was dynamic.”

Fellow senior Jordan Brown also helped set the tone, as he has been doing all season, especially on the defensive end.

“Again, Jordan Brown, on both sides of the court really energized the team and continues to do great things,” the McKinleyville head coach added.

After as good a start to conference play as they could have hoped for — a start that also included back-to-back road wins last week — the high-flying Panthers will enjoy a bye in league play on Thursday before a huge matchup next Tuesday at Eureka, which improved to 2-0 in the Big 5 with a 56-47 victory at Fortuna on Tuesday.

The Tigers, meanwhile, dropped to 1-1 in the Big 5 and 8-9 overall.

The defending Big 5 champs played Tuesday’s game without reigning conference MVP Luke Moxon (injured) and fellow starter Kalani Butor (illness), but they matched up well against their biggest rivals in the opening half.

However, the Tigers would manage just 13 points after the interval as the game got away from them and they finished with a season-low in points just three days after they also struggled offensively at Ukiah.

“It was a problem tonight. We weren’t ready to play,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “McKinleyville, they’re just physical and fundamentally solid, and we’re miles away from them. They kicked our butt up and down the floor.”

While admitting it played a role, Maynard wasn’t blaming the loss on the missing players.

“It sucks having two starters out and it puts a lot of pressure on the bench,” he said. “But nobody that went into the game tonight was ready to play.

“And I didn’t do a very good job making adjustments.”

The Tigers, who have lost four of their last five games, will try to get back on track when they travel to Eureka for another key game on Thursday.