File photo – McKinleyville’s Nick Maher

The McKinleyville Panthers fell 60-49 at Mt. Shasta in the opening round of the Division-5 boys basketball state playoffs on Tuesday night.

Nick Maher scored a team-high 15 points for McKinleyville, while Flynn Creighton added 12 points.

The loss ends the season for the Panthers, who were crowned co-champs of the Big 5 this winter and qualified for the state tournament after reaching the North Coast Section semifinals a week ago.

Jordan Brown added 11 points in Tuesday’s loss, while Bode Douglass finished with seven points.

The Panthers closed out the season with a record of 20-13.

In other state playoff action on Tuesday night, the Arcata girls survived a late scare to defeat Bear River 51-48 in their Division-4 opener.

The St. Bernard’s girls were also in action and defeated West Campus 55-39, also in the Division-4 bracket.

The Panthers were seeded No. 9 in their bracket.

The Mt. Shasta boys, who are seeded eighth, will play their NorCal quarterfinal at No. 1 seed Athenian on Thursday.

File photo