Russell Hedges
rhedges@bossierpress.com
Friday was a tough night for parish District 1-5A boys basketball teams.
The Airline Vikings, Parkway Panthers and Haughton Buccaneers closed the first half of district play with road losses to Shreveport teams.
Airline fell to Captain Shreve 82-64, Parkway lost to Byrd 82-70 and Haughton dropped a 94-66 decision to district leader Southwood.
Parkway’s Brodrick Jefferson draws a crowd against Byrd Friday night.
The Panthers (10-10, 2-3), Vikings (7-17, 1-4) and Buccaneers (7-15, 0-5) are in the bottom half of the district standings. Shreve (12-6, 0-1) is one game behind Southwood (16-8, 5-0). Byrd (21-5, 3-2) is third.
At Shreve, the Vikings got off to a great start, taking an 18-8 first-quarter lead. But the Gators rallied in the second and led 31-29 at the half.
Shreve extended the lead to seven after three quarters. The Gators couldn’t miss in the fourth, outscoring the Vikings 33-22.
Sophomore Larry Robinson led the Airline with 11 points. Anthony Gladney pumped in 10 and Austin Brannon had eight. Noah Hildebrand, Tyrise Neal, Denzel Washington and KJ Bilbo all scored seven.
Shreve’s Jesse McWright topped all scorers with 25.
At Byrd, the Panthers hung with the Jackets for most of the game. Parkway led by four at the end of the first quarter. But like Airline against Shreve, the Panthers struggled in the second. Byrd rallied for a 38-30 halftime lead.
Parkway scored 29 points in the third quarter but only sliced two points off the Yellow Jackets’ lead. Byrd finally pulled away in the fourth.
Brodrick Jefferson scored 13 and Trey Rogers 11 to lead the Panthers. Gabe Decuir and Trey Rogers had nine points each. Chad Lott topped Byrd with 28.
At Southwood, the Cowboys outscored the Bucs 27-10 in the second quarter en route to a 50-27 halftime lead.
Javonte Woodard led Haughton with 18 points. J’Marcia Banks added 15. John Parker led four Southwood players in double figures with 21.
