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

By Ray Hamill — Playing in front of a packed gym and enthusiastic home crowd, the Arcata Tigers were ready for Friday night’s big game.

With what head coach Kellen Maynard described as their most complete team performance of the season, the Arcata boys defeated rival McKinleyville 61-47 to take over top spot in the Big 5.

In the other Big 5 boys game on Friday night, the Eureka Loggers welcomed Fortuna to Jay Willard Gymnasium and won a close one 60-57 to remain well in contention for this year’s championship.

The game at Arcata lived up to the billing, at least in terms of the atmosphere, which is always electric when these two neighboring schools face off.

“It was a typical McKinleyville/Arcata rivalry,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “The gym was packed, it was standing room only and just a great atmosphere. It’s amazing, so much fun to play in and so much fun to be a part of.”

The Arcata players set the early tone and were clearly up for the big occasion, scoring 21 points in the opening quarter to take a six-point lead.

They stretched the advantage to 12 at halftime (38-26) and never allowed the Panthers back into the game in the second half despite some impressive runs by the visitors

“It was our most complete performance from start to finish,” Maynard said. “Obviously it’s McKinleyville, so we’re going to be locked in, but our effort, our hustle, our intensity and our attitude never wavered.”

The two Lukes led the way as the Tigers improved to 3-0 in league play and 14-5 on the season.

Luke Moxon, who was Big 5 MVP two years ago, scored a game-high 21 points, and Luke Lemke, who was conference MVP last season, added 16 points.

Lemke, who has only recently returned to the lineup after an injury, is beginning to show exactly why he was the best player in the Big 5 a year ago.

“I thought Luke Lemke had his best game of the season,” the Arcata coach said. “He looked explosive, he had energy and he was in control.”

He wasn’t the only standout on a team that appears to be growing in confidence and swagger with each passing game.

Dayquan Dunn, who also is settling in more and more after missing much of the early season while still playing football, helped contain McKinleyville standout Cole Armstrong early in the game, before teammate Levi Sims took on that challenging task in the second half.

The hard-working duo’s defensive effort was pivotal in the win.

“Levi had a great defensive game,” Maynard said.

Jack Luh and Dawson Vallerga also impressed for the home team.

“Jack Luh continues to progress and turn into a very dangerous and productive player for us,” Maynard said of the junior, who finished with seven points. 

Vallerga added six points but really made his presence felt on defense where he held dangerous McKinleyville guard Neil Moon scoreless for the night.

“That was a huge, huge defensive effort for us,” Maynard said of Vallerga’s performance.

The loss was the first in conference play for the Panthers, who close out the first half of their Big 5 schedule 3-1 and are now 14-7 overall.

The Panthers, however, remain well in contention for the conference championship and will get a rematch with their biggest rivals in their Big 5 finale in McKinleyville early next month.

However, they were unable to match the Tigers in a crucial aspect of the game.

“Physicality was the key tonight and we did not match Arcata at their level,” McKinleyville head coach Chris Davis said. “They had us off balance and really controlled the glass.

“However, we could have let that game get out of hand a few times but answered their runs with some of our own.” 

Armstrong and Bode Douglass both scored a team-high 17 points.

Despite the loss, it was a composed performance by the Mack players.

“Our guys fought hard to the end and stuck together,” Davis added. “Nobody pointed fingers and everyone kept their heads. In a heated rivalry game, that showed a lot of character from our guys and we were very proud of them for that.”

At Eureka, meanwhile, the host Loggers won their second straight conference game and improved to 2-1 in the Big 5 and 13-4 overall.

Trenton Gerber continued to impress in the win and helped set the early tone, nailing two big 3-pointers and finishing with seven of his 15 points in the opening quarter.

Teammate Elijah Estrada also continued to impress and also had 15 points while helping to set the tone for his team with a big third quarter

But the Huskies, who remain winless in the Big 5 (0-3 in conference and 8-12 overall), kept battling and rallied in the second half to make a game of it.

“We kind of fizzled out in the second half and made a couple of mistakes,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said. “And Fortuna did a good job continuing to pressure the ball.”

In particular, the play of Owen Wallen, Jake Houseworth and the always dangerous Jack Stacy caused the home team problems.

“I thought we played well enough to win but we turned the ball over way too much and gave up too many offensive rebounds, especially on free throws that they converted to points,” Fortuna head coach Norm Sotomayor said. “We competed until the end but came up short.

“I thought Owen Wallen did a great job of attacking and shooting the 3. Jake is starting to find his home in the paint and Jack Stacy is our Steady Eddy.”

Eureka sophomore Ryder Mitchell was tasked with the difficult job of guarding Houseworth and did “an amazing job at the defensive end,” according to DeHart.

And that’s not all.

The outstanding sophomore, who is having a season to remember, finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.

Michael Jewell added 14 points and five rebounds for Eureka and continued to give his teammates a timely boost off the bench, as he has all season long.

“I call him our spark plug,” DeHart said of the senior. “We put him in there and he’s one of those guys who always seems to make the right play. It’s nice to have a guy like that on our team.”

For the Huskies, it was a missed opportunity.

“This was a chance to steal one on the road and we just couldn’t get over the hump,” Sotomayor said. “(Eureka head) coach (Jimmy) Rodgers did a great job of capitalizing win our mistakes.”

The Loggers knew they were in a battle.

“A lot of credit to Norm,” DeHart said. “That Fortuna team is gritty and we’re glad we were able to hold on.”

No final stats were immediately available for the Huskies.

Next up, the Loggers will play at Ukiah on Saturday night at 6.

Big 5 action continues next Wednesday, when Fortuna hosts Del Norte and Arcata hosts Eureka.