By Ray Hamill — The McKinleyville Panthers seem to enjoy the Dick Niclai Tournament.

In recent years, the Panthers have saved some of their best basketball for the H-DNL postseason tournament and that continues to be the case this year.

On Tuesday night, the Mack boys took care of business in a game they were largely expected to win, defeating Little 4 runners-up Hoopa 76-61 in the second of two tournament semifinals at College of the Redwoods.

The win means the Panthers will play in a fourth Niclai final in five years as they look to secure a second straight title and a third in four years.

They controlled the tempo of Tuesday’s semifinal for much of the game and led wire to wire.

The Big 5 champs opened up a 20-11 lead late in the opening quarter and carried a 43-27 advantage into halftime.

The Warriors, to their credit, continued to battle, cutting the deficit to 11 in the third quarter, but there was no way back for the Little 4 runners-up going up against one of the best teams in the area all winter.

The Panthers will now play Little 4 champs St. Bernard’s in Friday night’s championship game at Lumberjack Arena.

The Crusaders edged Del Norte in a thrilling semifinal that went down to the final seconds, also at CR on Tuesday.

The Panthers have won four Niclai tournaments all time (1996, 1997, 2023, 2025), while St. Bernard’s has just one tourney title, which came back in 2002.

Friday night’s final will be played as part of doubleheader along with the girls championship game.

The girls’ final is set for 6 p.m., with the boys following at 7:30 p.m.

Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com