Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Wednesday night’s game at McKinleyville High.

By Ray Hamill — Four more H-DNL teams took the court for the North Coast Section basketball playoffs on Wednesday night, with two of them advancing to the weekend quarterfinals.

In Division-2 action, the McKinleyville boys hosted El Cerrito and lost 59-53 to end a memorable season for the Panthers.

Also here on the North Coast, the Ferndale boys hosted Rio Lindo Adventist in a Division-6 matchup, and the Wildcats ran out to a comfortable 82-40 victory to extend their season.

The Little 4 school, which is seeded No. 7 in the bracket, will now play at No. 2 Mendocino in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

The Cardinals had an opening-round bye.

The Del Norte boys also won their playoff opener to keep their season going.

The No. 8 Warriors hosted No. 9 Head-Royce in the Division-4 bracket and won a close game 54-51.

The victory sets up a quarterfinal showdown at No. 1 San Marin on Saturday night at 7.

In girls NCS action on Wednesday, the No. 15 Fortuna Huskies traveled south to play No. 2 Moreau Catholic in a Division-2 matchup and lost 72-36.

The McKinleyville boys matched up well against El Cerrito in their playoff opener, and there was little to separate the two schools for much of the game.

The Panthers led 40-38 early in the fourth quarter and it appeared as if it was anyone’s game.

But the visitors would go on a late 17-3 run to take control.

The Panthers, who did not play as well as they did in Friday night’s Dick Niclai Tournament final victory, would battle back to make for an interesting finish.

They were 10-for-10 at the free throw line down the stretch, and a Gaelen Creighton 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining pulled them within three.

But that was as close as they would get and the visitors iced the win with some big free throws of their own after that.

The Del Norte boys, meanwhile, won a close game against Head-Royce in an always tricky 8-vs.-9 seed matchup.

And they won despite struggling on offense for much of the night.

“We did not play very well at all,” head coach Cris Rice said. “But we were able to grit it out. We found a way to overcome a lot of mistakes.

“When it mattered, (the players) pulled through.”

The Head-Royce pressure resulted in a lot of Del Norte turnovers, but the Warriors defense had a good night and helped secure the win for the hosts.

Damian Escalera led Del Norte offensively and finished with a team-high 16 points, including four 3-pointers, while Ty Blue added 15 points.

Sawyer Fry also had an impact on the offensive end and finished with 12 points, while teammate Justin Cushman chipped in eight points.

“We didn’t have our best stuff, but we had good enough stuff,” Rice said.