Lacassine is the lone area boys team hosting a quarterfinal game tonight as a trio of Southwest Louisiana teams look to punch their ticket to next week’s state basketball tournament at Burton Coliseum.

The Cardinals, the No. 4 seed in Class B, will host No. 5 Doyline at 6 p.m. today. Hitting the road are Iowa, which will play at Donaldsonville in Class 3A, and Elton, which visits Delhi in Class 1A.

Lacassine (31-6) is looking to play in the state tournament for the first time since 2007, the second of back-to-back appearances.

Doyline (29-2) is on a 14-game winning streak which features 11 double-digit wins. Their two losses, to Converse and C.E. Byrd, were by a combined six points. The Panthers won the 2020 state title and are led by returning first-team all-state player Jamaria Clark, who averaged 31 points per game last year.

The Cardinals have won 20 of their last 21, the lone loss coming at J.S. Clark after Lacassine clinched the District 7-B title. Lacassine beat Singer 75-58 in the regional round behind Kane Broussard’s 40 points.

Cardinals coach Micah Rasberry said defense has been his team’s calling card.

“We’ve done a good job defensively, that is the thing we have been able to hang our hat on,” he said. “As for scoring, we have generally been able to spread it around and have a different guy step up every night. That speaks to the guys being selfless.”

Rasberry said Clark, and preventing second chances, will be the two areas of focus against Doyline.

“Clark is phenomenal, a great athlete,” he said. “We are going to try to make him take tough tough shots and make them go one-and-done by getting rebounds. They are bigger than us so we are going to have to be scrappy. Rebounding will decide the game.”

Elsewhere

No. 5 Iowa (26-4) will be looking to make its first trip to the semifinals. No. 4 Donaldsonville is 29-4 and has won 12 consecutive games. The Tigers are led by 6-foot-4 forward Troy Cole, who averages 18 points and 10 rebounds per game.

Iowa has won 17 straight with a deep rotation. Reserve guard Deshawn Ceaser has emerged as a scoring threat over the past few weeks and scored a team-high 26 in Iowa’s regional win over Lutcher.

No. 7 Elton (20-7) is in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2005. No. 2 Delhi (24-5) reached the semifinals in 2019 and avenged an upset loss to Merryville last year in the regional round.

Elton advanced with a 52-28 win over Oak Grove in the regional round.