Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports,.com – Dayquan Dunn in action for the Tigers on Thursday night.

By Ray Hamill — The Arcata Tigers are headed back to the Dick Niclai championship game in boys basketball after a 73-45 win over Hoopa in Thursday night’s semifinal at College of the Redwoods.

The Arcata boys will play St. Bernard’s for the first time this season in Friday night’s championship game at Lumberjack Arena.

On Thursday they comfortably took care of business against a Hoopa team that was coming off back-to-back road victories to reach the tourney semis.

The game was close enough for the first half, but the Tigers pulled away with a big third quarter, outscoring the Warriors 22-8 for the period to carry a 28-point lead into the fourth quarter.

And after that there was no way back for the Warriors, who likely are now done for the season, although head coach Roman Hutt is hoping they may yet get a berth in next week’s North Coast Section playoffs.

The Tigers, on the other hand, are far from done and the Big 5 co-champs will carry a five-game winning streak and plenty of momentum into Friday’s Dick Niclai final.

“It was a game we were happy to win and move on from,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “They gave us everything we could handle in the first half.

“We were on high alert for Hoopa after watching their game on Tuesday (against South Fork). I knew they were going to come out and shoot a lot of 3s.”

In the end, however, a deeper and more experienced Arcata team picked up their game in the second half to pull away and secure an expected victory.

“I thought we attacked the basket better in the second half,” Maynard added.

The Tigers, who enjoyed a very balanced offense in the win, were led by Kalani Butor, who finished with 16 points, while Luke Lemke added nine points and Dayquan Dunn finished with eight points.

Dawson Vallerga, Finn Warner and Lennon Geider each had seven points while Cam Norwald finished with six points and Lucien Rodriguez chipped in five points.

Sophomore Neil Moon scored a game-high 21 points for Hoopa and was a bright spot throughout the four quarters, while Lyle McKinnon added 12 points.

Brian Richards, Malaki McCoy and Brandon Romero each added four points.

“It was close enough in the first half, but I think the big stage might have rattled us a little bit. We’re a young team,” Hoopa head coach Roman Hutt said. “We just couldn’t find our rhythm in that second half and shots weren’t falling.

“And to (Arcata’s) credit, they do a really good job pressuring . But I’m very happy with where we’re going. We’re a young team and we’re bringing (most of our players) back.”

The Warriors, who have just two seniors on the roster, are ranked No. 20 in NCS Division 6, according to MaxPreps, and are a long shot for postseason inclusion.

However, after six straight losses to close out the regular season, they picked up their game this week with a road win at Ferndale in a tournament play-in game on Monday and an impressive showing in a victory at South Fork the next day.

“It was a good week for us,” Hutt added.

The Warriors dropped to 8-13.

The Tigers, meanwhile, improved to 16-10 as they get set for another Niclai final.

“We’re excited,” Maynard said. “You know it’s something you never take for granted. It’s a privilege and an honor to be able to play at Humboldt.”

Maynard, however, admitted he didn’t know if his team would get this far after going 2-2 in the first half of conference play.

“We’ve really turned it on the the last couple of weeks,” the coach said. “I’m happy with where we are right now.”

Friday’s championship will be played as part of a doubleheader with the girls final.

The girls tip off at 6 p.m., followed by the boys at 7:30.