Two-time defending champion Airline opened defense of its District 1-5A title Friday night with a 77-67 victory over Byrd at Airline.
In the other District 1-5A games, Parkway downed Evangel Christian 54-37 at Evangel and Haughton fell to Captain Shreve 58-14 at Haughton.
In a District 1-1A game, Plain Dealing lost to Arcadia 65-48 on the road.
At Airline, the Vikings extended their district winning streak to 19 games. Airline’s last district loss was to Southwood on Jan. 24, 2017.
Airline’s TJ Robinson, a first-team All-Parish selection last season, scored a season-high 31 points.
He had a huge first half, hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 22 points as the Vikings raced to a 46-21 halftime lead.
Airline cooled off a bit in the third quarter, but the Vikings (12-8, 1-0) still led by 11 going into the fourth.
After going scoreless in Airline’s eight-point third quarter, Robinson added nine more points in the fourth. He was seven of nine from the free throw line.
KD Henderson and Quan Randle scored 12 points each. Half of Randle’s came in the fourth.
Kyle McConathy knocked down three 3-pointers and added 10 points.
Demetrius Hill and Jonathan Stewart led Byrd (7-9, 1-1) with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Nehemiah Lee chipped in with 10.
At Evangel, Joey Wiggins pumped in 16 points to lead Parkway (10-6, 1-1). He had 12 in the first half to help the Panthers build a 29-20 lead.
Parkway came out strong in the third quarter, outscoring the Eagles 16-7 and extending the lead to 18. Javoris White scored all six of his points in the quarter and Chase Turner hit a 3-pointer.
Bryce Roberts, who hit two 3s, and Gabe Larry scored eight each in the game.
Evangel dropped to 0-10 and 0-2.
At Haughton, the Bucs dropped to 6-11 overall and 0-2 in district. Captain Shreve improved to 10-9 and 2-0.
At Arcadia, Plain Dealing fell to 8-6 overall and 1-2 in 1-1A. Arcadia improved to 11-2 and 4-0.
