Highway 42 bragging rights.

That’s what Chandler Harker’s Vienna Eagles were after last Tuesday night at Vienna High School’s Allen Gymnasium welcoming Iberia’s Rangers to town from Miller County.

Entering halftime tied at 13-13, Vienna’s Alex Zimmer scored the JV Eagles’ last five points of the first half to pull VHS even with the JV Rangers.

Scoring the first eight points of the second half, Zimmer helped spark a 20-4 third-quarter run allowing Vienna to win the junior-varsity contest over the visitors from Iberia 43-35.

Tied at 6-6 with just under a minute left in the first quarter, Waylon Lenning scored a basket with an assist from Dylan Long helping the JV Eagles to an 8-6 after seven minutes of basketball.

Iberia opened the second quarter on a 7-2 run before Zimmer single handedly pulled Vienna into a 13-13 halftime tie.

Nursing a 21-17 lead midway through the third quarter, Vienna went on a 12-0 run over the final 3:48 of the third quarter to take a 33-17 lead on a Long bucket beating the third-quarter buzzer.

Able to survive a 15-3 fourth-quarter run from Iberia, Vienna held on to end the 2022 portion of their season on a winning note.

Zimmer just missed a double double finishing with 21 points and nine rebounds for the JV Eagles.

Jude Stricklan and Long each added six points with Long also grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds and four steals.

Raymond Logan chipped in four points to go along with three points from Lenning.

Jayce Bertoni added a fourth-quarter  bucket for two points while Eli Crum hit a fourth-quarter free throw for one point to round out the Vienna JV scoring.

Varsity action between the Eagles and Rangers saw free throws have an impact on the final outcome.

Trailing 35-23 at halftime, Vienna could’ve trailed by single digits if not for an 8-20 output from the charity stripe in the first half.

Going 11-15 on free throws in the second half, the Eagles could not overcome Iberia’s offense which had answers for every Vienna run during the Eagles’ 74-57 loss.

Cash Stricklan led three Eagles in double figures with 20 points followed by 14 markers from Duncan Wilkinson and a double double of 10 points and 10 rebounds from Sam Rowden.

Zimmer also finished with seven points and six rebounds in varsity action for VHS.

Tanner Bock, Elias Miller and Lenning each added two points for Vienna.

Eli Hensley led the Rangers with a near double double effort of 28 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.