Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — As champions of the Big 5, the Arcata Tigers should have gotten the opportunity to host a first-round North Coast Section playoff game in boys basketball.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, however, they were drawn against another league champion and forced to travel to Alameda for their Division-1 tournament opener and lost 73-54 on Tuesday night

It was their second straight disappointing loss to close out the season, having also fallen to conference rival McKinleyville in last Friday’s Dick Niclai tournament final.

Despite that, this group of players left their mark on the 2024/25 season and have every reason to feel proud of their accomplishments.

And when the disappointment of the final few days dissipates, the players hopefully will see that.

“I’m proud of the guys, I’m proud of the season,” said head coach Kellen Maynard, who has led the Arcata boys to a league title in all four years he has been in charge. “I hope one day these guys can look back at it and realize what they accomplished.

“Not too many teams win league four years in a row and go to five straight Niclai championship games. 

“I think this team accomplished probably as much as you could with the circumstances we were given.”

The success of the history-making Arcata football team late last year meant Maynard didn’t have his full roster available for much of the opening month of the season.

When the football players did return, influential junior Luke Lemke, who was last season’s Big 5 MVP in basketball, got injured in his first game back and did not return to the lineup again until the new year.

“He only played 10 games this year,” Maynard said. “And he never quite got into a rhythm and feel with a lot of guys on the team. I feel bad for him. I know he wanted it so bad.”

That affected the whole team, as did the late-season injury to senior guard Dawson Vallerga, who missed the Niclai final.

“I feel the team did as good a job as we could have done under the circumstances,” Maynard added. “But I do feel we never quite peaked and got all the way to the level I feel this group had potential to get to. And it’s not their fault.”

A talented class of seniors certainly left their mark on the program.

The Tigers were only the seventh team in the past 20 years to go 8-0 in Big 5 boys basketball, and for the three-year seniors, it was the second time they achieved that elusive mark.

“It was impressive,” Maynard said. “They had a really, really good league and a good preseason … We had a really good season and I just hope these guys will look back on it and really understand what they accomplished.”

Maynard admits he will miss the nine seniors, who grew together as a class on the path to success.

“It’s very difficult to say goodbye to the nine seniors,” he said. “It was my first all-the-way-through class, so it was very difficult for me too. Just the growth they made from their freshman year to now was a joy to watch and a joy to be a part of.”

Unfortunately, Tuesday’s game at Alameda got away from them early and the Tigers trailed 30-10 after the opening quarter.

They battled for much of the night and matched the home team stride for stride after that but were unable to overcome the early deficit.

“We gave them hell,” Maynard said. “It was just tough. It was such a gut punch and heartbreaker to lose on Friday night and to turn around on Sunday and feel the sting again (when the NCS brackets were released).

“My guys made a game of it. We just ran out of gas. The big hole early on was the story of the game.”

That, however, doesn’t take from what this team achieved this winter and hopefully the players will remember that when they look back on this season in the years to come.