Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – McKinleyville head coach Chris Davis and some of his players look on during Friday’s game at Eureka.

The competitive nature of this year’s Big 5 was on full display on Friday night.

Up in Crescent City, the Arcata Tigers had their hands full playing against a fired-up Del Norte team before pulling out a 72-60 win, while at Eureka high, the host Loggers almost pulled out what would have been a thrilling comeback before ultimately falling by just one point, 49-48, to McKinleyville.

The win for the Tigers lifts them to 5-0 in the Big 5, while the Panthers remain right on their heels at 4-1.

Eureka sophomore Xavier De La Rosa scored what would have been the go-ahead basket with just three seconds remaining in the game, but head coach Jimmy Rodgers called a timeout just before his shot and the basket didn’t count.

On the ensuing inbound play, the ball bounced out of bounds as time expired and the Panthers held on for the win to keep their championship hopes alive.

It wasn’t their best performance of the season and the Panthers did not shoot well in second half, but in the end they got the win.

“The ball ended up bouncing our way at the end and we escaped with a road win,” McKinleyville head coach Chris Davis said. “In this league you got to take any road win you can get.”

Bode Douglass had a big night for the visitors and finished with a team-high 19 points, while teammate Cole Armstrong added nine points.

The Panthers looked to be in control early on and carried a nine-point lead into the second quarter,

But the Loggers would narrow the gap to just six at halftime and gradually clawed their way back into contention.

They would pull within one on a Will Mooney 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining in the game, but that was the last field goal of the night for either team.

“Eureka was very aggressive on the boards and made us pay all game long,” Davis said. “We can’t keep relying on our athleticism to clear rebounds. If we don’t change our mindset to be more physical then we’re going to lose games like this.

“We’re a talented team, but we have to have more pride on both sides of the court to prove that we’re the tougher team.

“When shots aren’t falling, like they weren’t in the second half for us, you can’t give up second and third chance opportunities like we were and expect a positive result.”

Henry Turner IV added eight points for the Panthers, who are now 16-7 overall, while teammate Nick Maher chipped in eight points.

Mooney led the home team with 19 points, while teammate Elijah Estrada added 12 points.

“We felt like going into halftime down six we were right there,” Eureka assistant coach Andrew DeHart said. “And winning the third quarter was huge for us. We talked about that at halftime.”

De La Rosa played a big role in the second-half surge and finished the game with six points and six rebounds.

The standout sophomore has seen his role with the team grow in recent weeks.

“He does a lot,” DeHart said. “He rebounds well, he moves on offense without the ball, he’s a great teammate and a great kid, and he plays great defense. Seeing him thrive tonight was exciting to see.”

Three clutch free throws by Armstrong in the final three minutes were the Panthers’ only scores in the final six minutes of the game.

And that ultimately proved to be the difference in such a tight game.

“In the second half, it came down to McKinleyville making some free throws late in the game and us missing some free throws,” DeHart said. “McKinleyville’s a great team, They’ve got a lot of guys that can beat you on any given night.”

Despite the loss, which dropped them to 2-3 in conference, the Loggers remain well on course for a spot in this year’s Dick Niclai tournament.

Up in Crescent City, meanwhile, the Warriors pushed the Big 5 leaders closer than any other team in conference play this season.

“We played them tight,” said Del Norte head coach Cris Rice, whose team cut the deficit to just seven points with 2:30 remaining but was unable to get any closer. “We played hard. We played real hard. We just couldn’t capitalize on little opportunities, but I was proud of our kids. They played with fire.”

The Tigers, who have now won six straight games, moved within two wins of securing at least a share of the Big 5 championship.

“It was a great game, a great high school game,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “It was back and forth, lots of good stuff on both sides.”

Dayquan Dunn led the Tigers offense and scored a team-high 18 points, while teammate Luke Moxon added 14 points and Dawson Vallerga had 13 points.

But it was Lennon Gieder who really helped seal the win and keep the surging Warriors at bay late in the game.

“Player of the game for me, no question, was Lennon Geider,” Maynard said. “He came off the bench and he only had four points, but those four points came in the fourth quarter and they were huge, and he had a couple of assists that were huge and a couple of defensive stops that were huge.

“Tonight he saved our butts in the fourth quarter, no doubt about it.”

In many ways, this was a typical hard-fought Big 5 game.

“Del Norte gave us everything they had,” Maynard said. “We knew they would. They played great tonight, they shot the ball well, they attacked our defense really well. 

“But our guys took every punch, every haymaker that they gave us, and we responded and fought back and didn’t back down, and it really showed a lot of character and grit from my guys tonight, so I’m really proud of them.”

Lyon Rigden scored a team-high 18 points for the Warriors, who dropped to 1-4 in the Big 5 but remain in contention for a Dick Niclai tournament berth.

Michael Webster also impressed for the home team and added 14 points, while Sawyer Fry chipped in eight points.

Junior forward Keenan Horton also impressed his coach.

“Keenan Horton did a great job battling inside,” Rice said. “I thought our team played hard. We definitely had a little more fire. It was definitely one of our best games. Despite the loss, we’ll take positives out of this.”

Senior Aidan Rice added five assists for the Warriors.