Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Dawson Vallerga in action for the Tigers on Wednesday night.

By Ray Hamill — After nine rounds of conference play, little has been decided in the Big 5.

Going into the final night of action on Friday, the championship is still up grabs and so is the third and final spot in next week’s Dick Niclai tournament.

On Wednesday, the Tigers got the better of Eureka 67-49 at Arcata High to improve to 5-2 in the Big 5 and move into a tie with McKinleyville atop the standings, while at Fortuna the Huskies celebrated senior night with a 64-43 win over Del Norte to go to 4-4 and keep their Niclai hopes alive.

And that sets up a fascinating final night in the Big 5, with Arcata playing at Del Norte and McKinleyville entertaining Eureka.

Arcata and McKinleyville are both playing for the league title, while Eureka needs to win to remain in the hunt for next week’s tournament.

“Friday is going to be a grinder,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “There’s so much on the line for everybody.”

With their championship hopes on the line, the Arcata boys comfortably took care of business against a dangerous Eureka team and they broke open a tight game with a big second quarter that saw them outscore the visitors 27-6 to carry a 19-point lead into the interval.

The Loggers began to eat into the deficit in the third quarter and went on an 11-3 run to narrow the gap, but the Tigers quickly rediscovered their touch and put up 10 unanswered points within a few seconds to widen their lead to 25 points.

After that, there was no way back for the visitors.

Since dropping to 3-2 in the Big 5 with a tough loss to Fortuna 13 days ago, the Tigers have gotten their title hopes back on track with a shift in focus that has seen Maynard continually rotate a lot of players in and out.

And it’s a strategy that appears to be working with back-to-back wins over McKinleyville and Eureka.

“It was good,” the Arcata coach said of his team’s performance on Wednesday. “It was more of a carryover from the McKinleyville game with the new style we’re trying to play.

“It’s picked up our tempo. I think the guys look like they’re playing more aggressive. Everybody I’m putting in the game right now is dialed in.”

Sophomore Luke Lemke led the way against the Loggers and finished with a team-high 17 points, while junior Lucien Rodriguez had a breakout game and finished with 14 points.

“This was by far Lucien Rodriguez’s best game of the season,” his head coach said. “He played really good defense, he was very active on the press, he didn’t hesitate when he was open, he was very aggressive going to the basket and he didn’t back down to anybody.

“I was super happy and impressed with his play.”

Vallerga also had a good night in the win and finished with eight points, while Finn Warner chipped in seven points.

With the win, the Tigers improved to 13-10 overall.

No final stats were immediately available for the Loggers, who dropped to 3-4 in conference and 13-12 overall.

Despite the loss, the Eureka boys remain in contention for the third and final Dick Niclai tournament berth.

A win over the Panthers on Friday would see them finish in a tie with the Huskies for third in conference and that would likely result in a play-in game against Fortuna on Monday.

At Fortuna, meanwhile, the Huskies played as if their Niclai hopes were on the line.

Fortuna opened up a 23-8 lead before the second quarter and there was no way back for the Warriors after that.

Senior Alfonso Medina, who is one of the leading candidates for Big 5 MVP, helped set the early tone and scored 10 of his game-high 19 points in the opening quarter.

He helped get the crowd involved with four dunks on the night, including three in the first quarter.

“We had a great fast start on senior night,” Fortuna head coach Norm Sotomayor said. 

Medina was one of six senior players honored before tip off, along with Russell Pascascio, Mason Toroni, Trent McGrath, Kallen Barrote and Kyle Grundman.

Several of the seniors stepped up for the occasion, including Barrote who finished with 14 points.

Pascascio added six points and also had a crowd-pleasing dunk, while McGrath added five points.

Sophomore Kobe Spaulding continued to shine since recently returning from injury and chipped in six points.

With the win, the Huskies improved to 16-9 overall.

The Warriors, who dropped to 1-6 in conference and 8-15 overall, were led offensively by Aidan Rice, who scored a team-high seven points.

Colin Tromble added six points, while Lyon Rigden, Kai Russell and Leon Erler each chipped in five points.

“The kids played hard,” said head coach Cris Rice, who added “Our half-court defense was tough, but we got killed in transition. The difference was their ability to run and fast break.”

The Warriors will honor their seniors before Friday’s game.