Russell Hedges
rhedges@bossierpress.com
The Louisiana New Tech at Plain Dealing Lions defeated the Airline Vikings 64-59 in overtime in a first-round game of the Bossier Federal Credit Union Parkway tournament Thursday night at Airline.
The tournament was moved to Airline because of a broken water mane on Barksdale Boulevard in south Bossier City.
In other first-round games, Texas High defeated Northshore of Slidell 63-60, Fair Park downed Southwood 68-57 and Parkway fell to Northwood 81-74.
In a non-tournament game, a late Bossier rally fell short as the Bearkats lost to Huntington 84-77 at Huntington.
At Airline, New Tech led 46-38 early in the third quarter, but Airline rallied and tied it at 46 on Austin Brannon’s 3-pointer with 3:35 left.
The Lions went back up by four, 50-46, with 1:30 left. KJ Bilbo hit a free throw to cut it three.
Airline’s Frantrell Rogers got a big block underneath the basket and freshman Noah Hildebrand drilled a 3-pointer with 20.1 seconds left.
The Lions badly missed a contested 3-pointer and the game went into overtime tied at 50.
New Tech’s Chiner Long sank a 3-pointer at the start of the overtime and the Lions never trailed after that.
The Vikings got within one, but New Tech went on a 5-0 run to go up 58-52 with just under a minute to go.
The Lions made nine of 15 free throws in overtime.
Vantrez Johnson led New Tech (6-1) with 21 points. Long had 15, including three 3-pointers, and Tray Harris added 10.
Brannon topped Airline (3-5) with 12 points, Hildebrand scored 11 and Robby Dooley had 10.
Parkway led Northwood 46-40 at the half but the Falcons rallied for the victory.
Niki Edwards led the Panthers with 20 points. Gabe Decuir had 12, and Prynceston Fant and Khamren Williams added 10 each.
In today’s consolation semifinals at Airline, Northshore plays Southwood at 3:30 p.m., and Parkway faces Airline at 5.
In the championship semifinals, Northwood faces New Tech at 6:30 and Texas High plays Fair Park at 8.
At Huntington, Bossier rallied from a big deficit but couldn’t catch the Raiders. Devonte Hall led the Bearkats with 26 points and Jericho Moss had 18.
Kentrell Hardy chipped in with 15 points. Malik Dunn added 14.
Tuesday games
Tuesday night, Airline fell to Minden 90-77, Benton rallied past Lakeside 60-57, Parkway dropped a 104-87 decision to Leesville and Louisiana New Tech at Plain Dealing knocked off Summerfield 54-41.
At Airline, freshman guard Noah Hildebrand hit five 3-pointers and had a game-high 17 points for the Vikings.
Anthony Gladney added 13 points, Tyrice Neal 11 and Austin Brannon 10.
The Vikings led 15-14 after a quarter but the quicker Crimson Tide took a 43-34 halftime lead and stretched it to as many as 25 in the second half.
At Benton, the Tigers rallied from a 35-19 first-half deficit to pull out the win.
Kody Stewart paced Benton with 15 points. Patrick Edmonds had 12 and Rudy Davis 10.
Benton visits Green Oaks tonight.
At Parkway, the Panthers had five players in double figures, led by Niki Edwards’ 14. Gabe Decuir added 13, Rob Harper 12, Trevon Rogers 10 and Jared Collier 10.
The Panthers couldn’t withstand a 46-point performance by Leesville’s Darren McQueen.
At Summerfield, Ja’Carlius Stromile led New Tech with 19 points, and Chiner Long had 14.
