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

If the Arcata Tigers play like this for the rest of the season, they will be tough to stop.

On Wednesday night, the Big 5 leaders closed out the first half of their conference schedule with a dominating 77-43 win over Eureka at Arcata High and improved to 4-0 in the standings and 15-5 overall.

In the other Big 5 game on Wednesday night, the Del Norte Warriors won a thriller at Fortuna by a score of 48-47, with Ryan O’Laughlin netting the winning basket with just six seconds remaining.

Arcata’s Dawson Vallerga helped set the tone in the opening half as the Tigers began to take control and they led 45-13 at the break.

The Loggers to their credit never gave up the fight but there was no way back for them after that.

“It’s just a continuation of how we’ve been playing,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said of his team, which is now beginning to peak after not having a full roster for much of the pre-league schedule. “I was very pleased with our effort.”

He had every reason to be.

Vallerga scored a game-high 17 points, including five 3-pointers.

“He really set the tone in the first half for us,” Maynard said of the  senior guard, who has raised the level of his game to new heights this winter. “He was the spark plug.”

Eric Jackson also had a big game in the win and added 10 points, while teammate Dayquan Dunn finished with nine points and Luke Lemke chipped in eight points.

“Our defense just kind of took over,” Maynard said of the second quarter. “We were really dialed in with our defense tonight.”

Jackson, who “had a great game,” according to the coach, had a couple of big steals to help keep the momentum going in the second half.

Check out Eric Jackson’s second-half dunk for Arcata below …

The loss was the second in four conference games for the Loggers, who closed out the first half of their Big 5 schedule 2-2 (14-5 overall).

“A lot of credit goes to Arcata. They’re a great team, they came out prepared, they set the tone physically,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said. “It was a tough one for us tonight, but we’re really, really proud of the way that our guys reacted and responded postgame, and we know we have another big one coming up on Friday.”

Will Mooney led the way for the Eureka boys on offense and finished with 11 points and five rebounds, while teammate Michael Jewell added nine points.

Elijah Estrada also had seven points and five boards for Eureka, while Xavier De La Rosa chipped in six points.

“This is a league where you’ve got to move on and get ready for the next one because every team is so competitive,” DeHart added.

Del Norte 48, Fortuna 47

O’Laughlin scored the biggest basket of the season for the Warriors with just seconds remaining in the game, as the Del Norte boys got their first conference win to keep their Dick Niclai tournament hopes alive.

With the win, the Warriors improved to 1-3 in the Big 5 and 13-8 overall.

The Warriors trailed for much of the night and found themselves 15 points adrift at one stage, but they continued to battle and found a way to win a game they had to have.

“I just think, the way the season has been going since we started league, that our kids showed a lot of grit and determination (tonight),” Del Norte head coach Cris Rice said. “They stuck with it.”

Michael Webster had a big night for Del Norte and finished with a game-high 24 points, while O’Laughlin added 10 points.

Lyon Rigden also impressed for the visitors and chipped in eight points.

The Warriors dug themselves a big hole early in the game and missed some easy layups, but they never gave up the fight.

Team defense was pivotal in the comeback.

“Our full court press was the difference in the game,” Rice added. “We turned them over a lot at the end.”

Jack Stacy led the Huskies in scoring and finished with a team-high 15 points.

The junior guard helped set the early tone and scored 13 points in the first half as the Huskies came out fired up.

Jake Houseworth added 10 points for Fortuna, while Owen Wallen finished with eight points and hit two early 3-pointers.

Jace Barsanti and Bryson Gilliam each chipped in five points for the Huskies, who dropped to 0-4 in the Big 5 and 8-13 overall.