Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — This time around the Panthers would not be denied.

After losing twice to their biggest rivals in this year’s Big 5 and falling short in their title defense, the McKinleyville boys were clearly not going to allow that to happen a third time in the Dick Niclai championship game.

On Friday night, in front of a packed house at Lumberjack Arena, they came out of the starting gates on fire and never let up, rolling to a 57-49 win over the Arcata Tigers on the biggest stage of all.

The championship is the team’s second in three years and fourth all-time, and they never looked in danger of losing this one.

“We didn’t have anything to lose tonight,” said McKinleyville head coach Chris Davis, who admitted this team was considered the underdogs after losing twice to a senior-heavy Arcata team in conference play. “These kids will remember this moment for the rest of their lives.”

The game was tied 11-11 after the first quarter and McKinleyville held the narrowest of leads at halftime (24-23), but you got the feeling early on that the Panthers were not going to let this one get away from them.

They began to put some distance between the two teams early in the second half, with Neil Moon particularly influential and nailing four crucial 3s, including two late in the third quarter to give his team a nine-point advantage (43-34) heading into the fourth quarter.

Moon hit another 3-pointer to start the final period to stretch the lead to 12.

“We didn’t match McKinleyville’s physicality, we didn’t match McKinleyville’s effort, we didn’t match McKinleyville’s will,” Arcata head coach Kellen Maynard said. “Everything McKinleyville did, they did better than us tonight. They were in a different gear. We just never found our footing tonight.”

In reality, the outcome was never in doubt in the fourth quarter and the Panthers would stretch the advantage to as many as 13 three minutes in, as the excitement from their fanbase and on the bench began to show.

This one was clearly special, not only coming against their biggest rivals on the biggest stage of the local sports calendar, but also because of the way the Tigers had dominated in the Big 5 this season.

Bode Douglass scored a game-high 17 points in the win, while the sharpshooting Moon, whom the Panthers call “Ice Man,” finished with 16 points and both Cole Armstrong and Nick Maher each added 12 points.

“He’s so cool and consistent down the stretch,” Davis said of Moon, explaining the nickname. “And he proved that tonight.”

Davis also singled out the contributions of Ray Turner.

“I thought he was incredibly active and instrumental defensively tonight,” the McKinleyville coach said. “And that’s what we really needed.”

Maher also made his presence felt in the paint consistently all game long.

“He was determined and he kept his head tonight,” Davis said. “He just let it roll off his shoulder.”

Armstrong’s presence also made a big difference after he missed the last meeting between the Panthers and Tigers.

“I really felt we put together four consistent quarters, and I feel like our defense was consistent tonight,” Davis said.

The Tigers were led by Luke Moxon and Luke Lemke, each of whom scored a team-high 16 points.

The Arcata boys will now turn their attention towards next week’s North Coast section playoffs with the brackets and seeds set to be announced on Sunday.

“Maybe this loss tonight will open our eyes a little bit,” Maynard said. “But we’ve had a really good season. We won the Big 5, we were undefeated, and I’m really proud of the boys for getting to where we got to.

“Tonight just wasn’t our night and hopefully we can regroup. We had a lot of good things happen up to this point, but it still stings, it’s not fun.”

The Panthers will also find out their NCS seeding and bracket on Sunday, but for now they’ll enjoy this one.

“These are the moments why we coach and why we play,” Davis said. “That’s what I want for these guys.”