LACASSINE — The boys state basketball tournament at Burton Coliseum will have a little local flavor next week as the No. 4 Lacassine Cardinals punched their ticket to the Class B semifinals Friday night with a 74-66 win over No. 5 Doyline.

Lacassine will play top-seeded Simsboro, which advanced with an 84-62 win over No. 9 Saline.

The Cardinals (32-6) never trailed, though the Panthers (29-3) made a couple of charges in the second half.

Down 39-28 after Lacassine’s Kane Broussard opened the second half with a 3-pointer, the Panthers went on an 18-7 run to tie the score late in the third quarter on a put-back basket by Jamaria Clark.

Aaron Garcia scored seven straight points to put Lacassine ahead for good.

A basket by Clark midway through the fourth pulled Doyline within 55-53, but the Cardinals put the game away with a 10-0 run that started with a 3-pointer and fast-break basket by Taiwan Jones. Seth Bourgeois hit a 3 and Broussard capped the run with a pair of free throws.

Head coach Micah Rasberry said toughness is the Cardinals’ defining characteristic.

“Tough teams win close games and play with poise,” Rasberry said. “We just had to take care of the basketball and handle our business at the free-throw line.

“Our calling card is blue-collar basketball, that is what we pride ourselves on. We might not be the biggest guys in the gym, might not be the most athletic, but we pride ourselves on our work ethic and that is what has kept us in a lot of games.”

Clark scored a game-high 35 points. Jamari Markray added 22 for Doyline.

Garcia led Lacassine with 21 points. Broussard finished with 18 and Jones scored 17.

Lacassine reached the semifinals for the first time since 2007.

“It feels great. It’s been 15 long years,” Rasberry said. “We’ve been working hard and we took our licks for a few years with this group of guys, but they stayed after it and fought through a lot of obstacles along the way. It is nice to see this happen to them.”