The Benton Tigers opened District 1-4A play Tuesday night with an 81-39 victory over North DeSoto at Benton.
The victory was the first for new head coach Todd Martinez.
The Parkway Panthers were the only other parish team to win. Parkway routed Booker T. Washington 75-44 at BTW.
In a battle between two of the top teams in Class 4A, the Bossier Bearkats fell to Peabody 72-67 in Alexandria.
Airline dropped a 76-53 decision at Minden, and Haughton lost at Northwood 64-38.
Plain Dealing suffered its first loss of the season 64-53 against Lakeview at home.
At Benton, twelve Tigers scored in the victory. Ryder Woolon led Benton (1-5) with 13 points. Reese Yarbrough added 11 and Ethan Yarbrough 10.
Ryan Ward, son of new Benton assistant coach Randy Ward, hit three 3-pointers and scored nine. Todd Dominick chopped in with seven.
Benton dominated from the start. Ethan Yarbrough scored eight in the first quarter as the Tigers raced to a 27-8 lead.
Benton knocked down five 3-pointers in the second quarter, including two by Ward and two by Woolon, and led 49-19 at the half.
North DeSoto dropped to 1-7 overall.
At BTW, four Parkway players scored in double figures led by Isaiah Robinson’s 14. Ten of Robinson’s points came in the second half,
Chase Turner scored 13, all in the first half. Bryce Roberts tallied nine of his 12 points in the second half. Joey Wiggins chipped in with 10 points.
Parkway (3-1) led 17-6 after the first quarter. The Panthers heated up in the second, scoring 27 en route to a 44-17 halftime lead.
BTW dropped to 1-5.
At Peabody, Jacoby Decker hit five 3-pointers and scored 27 points to lead Bossier (6-2).
The Bearkats trailed by one at the half. Bossier started strong in the third quarter and led by as many as five. But the Warhorses rallied and led by two going into the fourth.
The game was close the rest of the way. Bossier led by three with just over two minutes to play, but Peabody came back to take the lead for good in the final minute.
Xavien Beasley added 11 points for Bossier and Kaalas Roots had nine.
Peabody (7-2) avenged a 73-70 loss to Bossier on Nov. 19 in the Natchitoches Central tournament.
At Minden, Airline fell to 4-5 with its fifth straight loss. Minden raised its record to 6-3.
At Northwood, Haughton fell to 2-4 and Northwood improved to 2-5.
At Plain Dealing, the Lions dropped to 5-1. Lakeview, a Class 2A quarterfinalist last season, improved to 8-2.
