Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Ty Blue in action for the Warriors at Arcata on Monday night.

By Ray Hamill — The Warriors have been playing playoff basketball for the last couple of weeks.

Every game, it seems, is an elimination game for the Del Norte boys, and every game they answer the call.

On Monday night, the Warriors tipped off the Dick Niclai Tournament at Arcata and came away with a 72-68 win to advance to Tuesday night’s semifinals at College of the Redwoods.

Del Norte will face off against Little 4 champs St. Bernard’s at 6 p.m.

Also in action in the Niclai tournament on Monday, the Hoopa Warriors entertained Ferndale and won 65-56.

The Hoopa boys will play McKinleyville in their semifinal on Tuesday night at 7:30, also at CR. 

Monday’s game was the third road showdown for the Del Norte boys in four days, and their third road victory in four days.

“That was a big win for us,” Del Norte head coach Cris Rice said afterwards. “Another road win with a tired group of boys, but they’ve got a lot of grit, and it showed tonight.”

Damian Escalera had a big night in the win and finished with a team-high 28 points, including five 3-pointers.

Justin Cushman also stepped up late in a tight contest after the Tigers rallied to cut what had been a 10-point gap with six minutes remaining to just two points in the dying seconds.

The Del Norte junior guard held his nerve late and nailed two free throws with six seconds remaining to see his team safely over the finish line.

“Cushman’s free throws at the end were huge,” Rice said.

Sophomore Ty Blue also had a big night for the visitors, finishing with a double-double.

Blue scored 15 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

Kayon Starkey added 12 points and nine rebounds, while Sawyer Fry finished with 10 points and Cushman chipped in seven points to go with a team-high four assists. 

“Starkey was amazing tonight,” Rice said of his lone senior. “It was probably the best game of his high school career.”

Luke Lemke led the Tigers and finished with a game-high 29 points, while Remey Winkler added 14 points and Jack Luh had 12 points.

Overall, however, it wasn’t a good night for the home team, which lost a second straight game after a run of four straight league wins.

“It’s just disappointing,” Arcata team coach Kellen Maynard said. “Since we beat McKinleyville, it feels like that was our championship. It feels like we don’t have the same attention to detail since then.”

The win for Del Norte was their second over the Tigers this season.

“You’ve got to give Del Norte credit. They deserved to win those two games,” Maynard added.

The Tigers, to their credit, kept battling and came close to sneaking a come-from-behind win.

“I love that my team kept fighting and kept playing as hard as they can,” Maynard said. “But right now, we’re not locked in. We’re not on the same page defensively, we’re not on the same page offensively.

“Its disappointing. It’s frustrating. I don’t think it’s for lack of effort, but for whatever reason they’re just not locked in right now, and that’s on me.”

The Tigers will now turn their attention to the North Coast Section playoffs, which get under way next week.

The NCS seeds and brackets will be announced on Sunday.

Hoopa 65, Ferndale 56

The Warriors will play for a place in this year’s Dick Niclai Tournament championship game when they face off against Big 5 champs McKinleyville on Tuesday night.

The Hoopa boys took care of business against L4 rival Ferndale in Monday’s opening round, and, according to head coach Inker McCovey, they did so despite not playing their best basketball.

“I don’t think we played our best,” said McCovey, whose team improved to 12-11 on the season. “I thought we were a little bit slow out there tonight.”

The Warriors led by as many as 19, but the visiting Wildcats would claw their way back to make a game of it, pulling within four points late in the third quarter.

And they did it without two of their best players — Tanner Pidgeon and Prescott Langer — who missed the big showdown because of other commitments.

Carlos Anzora had a big night for Hoopa and finished with a game-high 25 points, while teammate Brian Richards added eight points and 12 rebounds.

Joshua Moon also impressed and had 14 points and six assists, while freshman Willie Simms had a good night on the boards, pulling up down 13 rebounds to go with four points.

Malakai McCoy chipped in nine points in the win.

Playing without two of their leaders, the Cats had a balanced night offensively.

August Kendall and Tyler Berti each had a team-high 12 points, while Cade Davy added 11 points.

Defensively, junior Garyn McClurg enjoyed another good game.

“For the last two games, we’ve stuck him on the other team’s best player and he’s done a fantastic job,” Ferndale head coach Lane Stapp of McClurg.

Davy also had a big night for the visitors, picking up some of the slack in the absence of Langer and Pidgeon.

“Cade Davy stepped up and had his best game of the year by far,” Stapp said.

On Friday night, the Ferndale boys traveled to South Fork to face the Cubs in a game they had to win to qualify for the Niclai tournament and the players delivered.

Pidgeon led the team in scoring with 16 points, as the Cats came away with a 64-53 win.

The Cats brought up several JV players for the big showdown.

“We brought up some JV kids for the last two games and everyone had to step up,” Stapp said. “And I was really happy with how they played.”

While the Warriors will continue Niclai action on Tuesday night, the Cats will now turn their attention to next week’s NCS playoffs.

And as the No. 7 ranked team in Division 6, they appear to have a shot at inclusion.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” Stapp said. “I feel pretty good about us playing against schools our size.”