Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Wednesday night’s game at Arcata High.

What a difference a full squad makes.

Playing with their first-string starting five for the first time this season — and with a full roster available for the first time this season — the Arcata Tigers tipped off the Big 5 with an emphatic win over visiting Del Norte on Wednesday night.

Perhaps sensing the importance of the occasion, the Tigers quickly pulled away on the way to a 63-41 win, improving to 1-0 in conference and 12-5 on the season.

“We actually played well from start to finish,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “From start to finish it was probably the best game we’ve played all season long.

“It’s nice to come back and play much better than we did on Friday against Ukiah.”

Luke Moxon led the way and finished with a team-high 17 points in the win, while teammates Levi Sims and Dayquan Dunn each added eight points.

It was a statement win from a team that most people believe is the favorite to win this year’s conference.

“I told the players, it’s league now and our goal is to win every game,” Maynard added. “The next eight games are the most important of the season for us.”

In addition to Moxon, who was the Big 5 MVP two years ago, the Tigers also got a big contribution from fellow senior Eric Jackson, who led a suffocating team defensive performance.

“Eric Jackson had a great game,” Maynard said. “Defensively, he had a couple of timely steals in the press, and he had a couple of very aggressive rebounds.

“I thought his energy and effort off the bench was extremely important for us.”

It was a disappointing conference opener for a Del Norte team that had impressed in the lead up to the Big 5.

“Tough loss for us tonight,” said Del Norte head coach Cris Rice, whose team fell to 0-1 in the Big 5 and 12-5 overall.

Rice, however, was happy with his players’ effort.

“The boys played hard until the end,” he said. “In the end, (Arcata) shot well and we shot poorly. Give a lot of credit to Arcata’s defensive game plan.”

That stellar defense was a big part of the Tigers’ game plan.

“Del Norte’s been playing well,” Maynard said. “They’ve won a lot of games, so we put a (big focus) on defense the last few days.”

Last year’s Big 5 MVP, Luke Lemke, returned to the Arcata lineup after missing all but one game this season because of football commitments and an injury he picked up in basketball in late December.

According to Maynard, Lemke was moving well but he’s still adapting to the pace of the game after missing so much of the pre-conference schedule.

The Tigers will try to keep their impressive start to conference play going when they play at Fortuna on Friday night.

And Maynard is expecting another big challenge for his team.

“They always give us a battle when we go to Fortuna,” he said of the Huskies, who had a bye in conference play on Wednesday.

The Warriors will try to bounce back when they continue a tough start to conference play at McKinleyville on Friday.

The opening week sees the Warriors play back-to-back road games against the Big 5’s co-defending champs.