The Bossier Bearkats defeated the DeRidder Dragons 53-50 in a battle of the two of the top Class 4A boys basketball teams in the state Tuesday night in DeRidder.
Elsewhere, Airline fell to West Monroe 99-95 in a six-overtime thriller at Airline, Benton downed Haughton 59-41 at Haughton and Parkway lost to Ruston 74-57 at Ruston.
At DeRidder, Jacoby Decker and D’Ante Bell scored 12 points each to lead Bossier. Kaalas Roots added eight. Tim King and Michael Green scored six each.
DeRidder (12-4) came in at No. 2 in the Class 4A power rankings. Bossier (9-4) was No. 6.
At Airline, the game went into overtime tied at 53. The score was knotted at 57 after the first overtime.
A pair of clutch free throws by TJ Robinson helped send the game into a third OT tied at 69.
Airline led by three late in the fourth OT, but the Rebels hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to keep the game going.
The Vikings took a 3-point lead with 1:12 left in the fifth overtime, but West Monroe rallied to tie it again.
Airline dropped to 8-6. West Monroe improved to 8-4.
Benton improved to 6-4 with the win over Haughton.
Parkway dropped to 6-4 with the loss to Ruston.
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bossierpress.com
