Bossier Parish teams got off to a good start as the 2019-20 boys basketball season opened Tuesday night.
The Bossier Bearkats, Airline Vikings and Haughton Buccaneers all won.
Bossier, which won the District 1-4A title last season, defeated defending District 1-5A champion Southwood 69-58 at Southwood.
Despite losing two key players, Jacoby Decker and Kaalas Roots, off last season’s Class 4A runner-up team, the Bearkats appear ready to make another big run this season.
Airline pulled away in the second half for a 66-46 victory over Northwood at Northwood.
Haughton gave new head coach Terry Josting his first win. The Bucs routed Magnolia School of Excellence 81-58 at Haughton.
At Southwood, Cody Deen pumped in 21 points to lead Bossier.
Tim King added 17. Otis Smith scored 11 and Dante Bell nine.
Bossier led 31-30 at the half and 49-45 after three quarters. The Bearkats outscored the Cowboys 20-13 in the final quarter.
At Northwood, the Vikings led 30-26 at the half and 48-41 at the end of the third quarter. Airline dominated the fourth, outscoring the Falcons 20-5.
Last season, balanced scoring was a hallmark of a Vikings team that won 19 games. It looks like it could be the same this season.
Brayden Thompson and Kendrick Crawford led nine Airline players who scored with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Kaleb Martin, Amir Wineglass and Kyle McConathy all scored eight.
Major Wiese and Wineglass both hit 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Wineglass and McConathy had two each in the game.
At Haughton, Ken’trell Parker, coming off a solid 2018-19 season, scored 29 points to lead the Bucs.
Ken Lang added 17 and Malachi Burks 16.
Haughton led 29-17 at the half and then kicked its offense into high gear in the second, outscoring Magnolia 52-29.
Lang scored all 17 of his points in the final two quarters. Parker scored 18 in the second half, including 12 in the fourth quarter.
About the only negative for Haughton was at the free-throw line. The Bucs made just 21 of 44.
NOTE: Game statistics provided by coaches.
