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Head coach Chris Davis and the McKinleyville Panthers are continuing to set the standard in Big 5 boys basketball.

On Wednesday night, the Panthers welcomed Del Norte to McKinleyville High and won 49-42 to secure at least a share of this year’s conference championship.

It’s the second Big 5 title in Davis’ three years in charge of the program, having also shared the championship with Arcata two years ago, and they can clinch it outright with a win in either of their final two games, or an Arcata Tigers loss in either of their two final games.

Not bad for the smallest school in the conference.

“Huge night for the team,” Davis said. “Destiny has been in our control and our boys have really rallied behind it.”

If they can clinch the title outright — and few would bet against it at this stage — the Panthers would automatically secure a top seed and first-round bye for the upcoming Dick Niclai tournament, which they won a year ago.

On Wednesday, they took control of the game with a big finish to the first half and a good start to the second, never allowing the visitors quite catch up after that.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” Del Norte head coach Cris Rice said of the Panthers. “They’ve got a great coach. They’re a good team.”

With the win, McKinleyville improved to 6-0 in conference play and 16-7 overall, and what was supposed to be a wide-open race for this year’s championship, according to most local fans at the start of January, has been anything but so far.

Both defenses came to play.

Del Norte held the Panthers to their fourth lowest points total of the year, while the home team held the visitors to their second lowest points total of the year.

The Panthers were particularly effective on the defensive boards.

“Our defense really stepped up tonight,” Davis said. “Good rotations, shot contests on most looks, and most importably we only gave up five offensive rebounds to limit second chance opportunities.”

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Bode Douglass, who returned earlier this winter from a longterm injury suffered in the offseason, continued to defy expectations as he steadily plays a bigger and bigger role for the Panthers.

The senior standout, who has been a key player for this team for the past three years, scored a co-game-high 12 points in the win, along with impressive teammate Henry Turner, who continues to play at a high level.

Douglass was particularly effective from downtown.

“Bode got in a nice groove tonight from beyond the arc and was really the only one who was for us tonight, despite the open looks we felt good about,” Davis said. 

Neil Moon and Gaelen Creighton each added eight points in the win, while several Panthers stepped up for the team defensively.

“Jeremiah (Smith), Ray (Turner) and Neil provided intelligent pressure on their guards and made them consistently uncomfortable,” Davis said. 

The Panthers also did a good job containing dangerous Del Norte sophomore Ty Blue in the paint.

“Despite being undersized, Henry, Gaelen, Thomas (Brown) and James (Fike) played solid defense on their bigs, especially Blue,” Davis added. “Really impressive by all of them.”

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The loss was a disappointing one for the Warriors, who matched up well against McKinleyville for the second time in conference play, but once again came up short.

The visitors had 17 turnovers and just seven assists, never a good stat, and they also finished with just four steals.

“That was rough for our team,” Rice said.

Damian Escalera and Sawyer Fry each had a team-best 11 points for Del Norte, with the latter also pulling down five rebounds, while Markus Parras added eight points and Blue finished with with five.

“My boys never gave up,” Rice added.

The loss dropped the Warriors to 2-4 in conference play 15-9 overall) and most likely means the best they can do is finish third after Arcata moved two wins clear of them in the standings with two games each remaining.

Eureka, which had a bye on Wednesday and has a game in hand, is 2-3 and third in the standings.

The Warriors will host the Loggers in a pivotal showdown on Friday night that will have a huge impact on which team secures the third and final Big 5 berth for the Dick Niclai tournament.

And Rice is expecting the Del Norte fans to be up for the occasion, as they usually are.

“It’s going to be loud in our gym, and its going to be a hostile environment,” he said.

On the same night, the McKinleyville boys will try to secure the conference championship outright when they host Fortuna.