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

By Ray Hamill — This time around there will be no shared championship.

The two co-defending Big 5 champions faced off for the second time in conference play at McKinleyville High School on Tuesday night, and it was the visiting Arcata Tigers who ran out to a 56-47 win over their hosts to seal this year’s championship outright.

As usual, this intense rivalry matchup was played in front of a packed house and an enthusiastic crowd, and the game was still well in the balance at halftime, with the visitors holding a slender 20-16 advantage.

The Tigers, however, went on a 25-12 run to open the second half and stretch the lead to 17, and they carried what would be an insurmountable 15-point lead into the fourth quarter.

It didn’t help matters for the Panthers that they were forced to play the game without one of their best players, influential senior Cole Armstrong, who was ejected from last week’s game at Fortuna after two technical fouls and suspended for the big showdown.

His teammates stepped up in his absence, but ultimately a deep Arcata team took care of business to secure the conference sweep over their biggest rivals.

With the win, they improved to 7-0 in the Big 5 (18-5 overall) and they move two games clear of the Panthers (6-2, 18-8) in the loss column with one game remaining.

“I would say it was a good night in that we won league,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “But we didn’t play very well. We had a good third quarter, but that was it.”

A late injury to influential senior guard Dawson Vallerga dampened the celebrations and it remains to be seen if he can return this season, although Maynard is hopeful he can.

Offensively, Maynard felt it was his team’s worst performance in almost two months.

“I was a little disappointed with that,” he said. “We knew Mack was going to come out and throw haymakers all night. We knew we were going to get the very best they could give us, and I’m super proud of my guys for being able to get the win.”

Luke Lemke scored a team-high 15 points in the win, while Vallerga added 12 points and Dayquan Dunn chipped in 11 points.

In Armstrong’s absence, Nick Maher scored a team-high 12 points for McKinleyville, while Neil Moon added 11 points and Bode Douglass chipped in 10 points.

“Really proud of our team stepping up to the challenge tonight,” McKinleyville head coach Chris Davis said. “We knew we had to step up the physicality with Cole out tonight, and outside of a few rebounding mental lapses we really made it hard for Arcata inside most of the night.

“Our guys responded well in practice this week to a few new things we wanted to throw at them, and they executed them well in the first half which contributed to our solid first-half defensive effort.”

A big third quarter by the visitors, however, proved to be the difference.

“Arcata made some nice second-half adjustments and executed on the offensive side more efficiently than we did,” Davis added. “They play a very physical defensive game and made it tough on us all night. We’ve got to take what we learned tonight and make sure we improve going into Niclai and sections.”

The two schools could meet again in next week’s Dick Niclai tournament, with Arcata receiving a top seed and a first-round bye and McKinleyville hosting Eureka in a first-round tournament game on Monday night.

Maynard is also hoping his players can learn from their less-than-stellar offensive effort on Tuesday.

But he was happy with his team’s defensive performance.

“I thought our defense was very good today,” the Arcata coach said. “I can’t fault our guys for being over aggressive, that’s kind of the team we are.

“This is always a tough place to play, and I’m proud of my guys but super bummed for Dawson. That takes away from the win.”

It was senior night for the Panthers, who celebrated a talented class that includes Armstrong, Maher, Landon Bailey and Jackson Kelly, all of whom have made big contributions during their time with the team.

“Landon, Jackson and Nick played very well tonight on their senior night. As a coach it really makes you very happy for those guys getting those moments,” Davis said. “They’ve been amazing team guys and I hope we can keep giving them special moments this season for as long as possible. Cole will be back on Monday and I know he will be hungry to make some noise in the Niclai tournament.”