Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — For the second straight year the Hoopa boys basketball team is hitting its stride at an opportune time of the season.

The Warriors sat fourth in the Little 4 standings on Friday morning, but back-to-back wins over the Ferndale Wildcats, coupled with the fortune of winning a three-way coin toss, has catapulted them to the Dick Niclai semifinals, for the second straight year.

On Monday night, the Hoopa boys traveled to Ferndale for their Niclai tournament opener and won a game they never trailed in by a score fo 68-58.

The win follows a victory over the Cats in Hoopa in both teams’ regular-season finale on Friday night, a win that resulted in a three-way tie for second in the final conference standings.

A three-way coin toss after the game resulted in the Warriors advancing to the Niclai tournament and Ferndale and South Fork facing off in a tournament play-in game on Saturday, which the Wildcats won to host Monday’s tournament opener.

But three games in four days may have caught up with the Wildcats, who started slow on Monday and could never fully recover.

Led by outstanding senior Brandon Romero, the Warriors started the game on a 9-0 run and they were able to hold their hosts at arm’s length for most of the game after that.

Hoopa led by eight at halftime (32-24) and every time the Cats made a run to narrow the gap, the Warriors always answered with a run of their own.

Romero was once again key, as he has been all season long for Hoopa.

The 6-foot-1 senior guard finished with a game-high 30 points including four 3-pointers, and also had 10 rebounds for a double-double, as well as six assists.

Fellow senior Lyle McKinnon also had a double-double for Hoopa, scoring 10 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.

Sophomore Malakai McCoy added 14 points in the win, including three 3s, while Carlos Anzora dished out a team-high seven assists.

Brian Richards also made his presence felt in the paint, as he has all season long, and had nine points and 11 rebounds.

The win sets up a semifinal; showdown against Big 5 champs Arcata on Wednesday night at College of the Redwoods.

Braeden Rice and Prescott Langer each led the Wildcats with 15 points apiece.

The slow start, however, proved costly for a Ferndale team that had split the conference series with their L4 rivals.

But the Ferndale players battled hard to the end and never gave up the fight, 

“We came out slow to start the game, but kept the pace the entire time,” Ferndale head coach Lane Stapp said. “It wasn’t our best game overall and we couldn’t get enough shots to go down, but we hustled all game long.”

The game wasn’t decided until the final few minutes when two clutch free throws by Romero put the Warriors up by 12 with 2:30 remaining on the clock.

Parker Prior hit a big-time 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to pull the Cats within four (51-47), but the Warriors responded immediately with a Romero 3, and that was kind of the story for much the game.