The crowd at Tuesday's league challenge between the Bearden Bears (Bearden, AR) and the host Emerson Pirates (Emerson, AR), observed Bearden's basketball team edge Emerson by a score of 61-58.

The Bears (4-5) will now prepare for their challenge against Smackover (Smackover, AR). The Buckaroos come into the non-league challenge with a 1-7 record. In their last challenge, Smackover was tipped by Genoa Central (Texarkana, AR), 47-38, in a league challenge.

In their next game, the Pirates battle the Taylor Tigers (Taylor, AR) in a 1A Region 8 challenge, on Friday, December 13. Emerson will attempt to improve on its 6-7 season record.