The Parkway Panthers and Haughton Buccaneers opened District 1-5A play with home victories Tuesday night.
Parkway rallied from a 17-0 deficit to defeat Benton 59-55. Haughton routed Byrd 80-56.
In the other two 1-5A openers, Airline fell to defending champion Natchitoches Central 75-42 in Natchitoches, and Southwood edged Captain Shreve 55-52 at Shreve.
In a rematch of last season’s Class 3A state championship game in Monroe, Bossier fell to Wossman 49-47. The Bearkats defeated the Wildcats 62-61 in the title game in March.
At Parkway, Benton couldn’t have gotten off to a much better start, and Parkway looked like a team that hadn’t played a game in 18 days.
With 3:10 left in the first quarter, the Tigers led 17-0. But the Panthers got a spark from Jalun Reed, who scored all seven of his team’s first-quarter points, and cut the lead to 10.
Benton’s Jaden Davis knocked down a 3-pointer with just over 10 seconds left in the quarter to push the lead to 13 going into the second.
The Tigers went cold from the field in the second and the Panthers took advantage. Chance Snell, Bryce Roberts and George Brown all hit 3-pointers. Parkway went on a 16-7 run and trailed by just four at the half.
Roberts scored nine of his 19 team-high points in the third quarter and the Panthers led 39-38 going into the fourth.
Benton’s Jyrell McClendon had an outstanding fourth quarter, scoring 13 of his game-high 21 points. He was 7-of-7 at the free throw line.
But Parkway got 3s from Trae Ware and Roberts and hit 8-of-11 free throws to come away with the victory.
Michael Feaster scored six of his nine points in the fourth. Reed also finished with nine points.
Davis scored nine for Benton. Dylan Slaid had seven.
Benton (14-4), which had a five-game winning streak snapped, will try to get back on track against Shreve (9-7) Friday at home.
Parkway (5-2) hosts Southwood (9-9).
At Haughton, four Bucs scored in double figures in the victory. KJ Allen led the team with 19 points. Malachi Burks had 13, Laythan Delaney 12 and Adrian McClindon 11.
Allen scored eight and JJ Dudley six as Haughton took a 21-16 lead after a quarter. Allen tallied eight more in the second and the Bucs increased their lead to 44-28 at the half. Burks had six in the quarter and Delaney five.
Haughton continued to stretch the lead in the third, outscoring the Yellow Jackets 21-11.
The Bucs (5-2), who have won three straight, equaled their district win total of last season. They visit Airline (3-7) Friday.
At Natchitoches Central, the Vikings trailed by just three after the first quarter, but the Chiefs dominated the second and led 34-16 at the half.
Devin Bilbo, Christian Minor and Bryson Broom scored six points apiece for Airline.
Justin Aaron and Darius Young paced the Chiefs (10-1) with 21 and 16 points, respectively.
At Wossman, Joseph Manning led Bossier with 14 points. Semaj Poole added 10.
Devonte Austin led the Wildcats with 19. Albert Shell chipped in with 14.
Both Bossier (7-5) and Wossman (11-1) are playing in the Bossier Invitational.
The Bearkats begin play Wednesday at 5:30 against Plain Dealing. The Wildcats play the first of two games Friday at 8 against Calvary Baptist.
