LITTLE CYPRESS — The West Orange-Stark Mustangs nailed down a huge road win at the Bear Cave Friday night in District 22-4A action despite the shooting display of senior Little Cypress-Mauriceville standout Braden Bridges.

Bridges proved his might once again for the Bears as he fired in a whopping 45 points. However, it was not quite enough as the balanced Mustangs left Bear Country with a thrilling 70-68 overtime victory.

The Mustangs (13-12, 2-2) placed four players in double figures and made some key shots down the stretch and in overtime behind the efforts of B’Jan Arvie and Nakai Arnold to fend off the Bears (10-16, 1-3).

Arvie and Arnold each made 3-of-4 free-throws in the final 1:30 of overtime to help thwart the red-hot Bridges, who made two key three-pointers in the extra session to keep the Bears within striking distance.

Arvie finished with a huge double-double, scoring 17 points while snagging a game-high 13 rebounds while Arnold finished with 15 points.

Terron Brown paced the Mustang attack with 21 points and had six rebounds before fouling out late. Darryl Bowens played well, scoring 10 points.

Jesse Doucette had nine points, all coming in the fourth quarter and led the Bears with seven rebounds. Jackson Smith and Ethan McCollum scored six points apiece for the Bears while guard Landon Bearden added six rebounds.

The game was nip-and-tuck throughout as WO-S led 15-14 at the end of the first quarter, 26-24 at intermission and 42-40 going into the fourth. Bridges had 18 of the Bear points in the first half.

The Mustangs finished with a 28-26 rebounding edge and dominated the free-throw attempts. WO-S made 20-of-31 from the free-throw line while the Bears were just 7-of-12 and missed three crucial free throws late in the fourth quarter that could have sealed the win for them.

The Bears finished with 15 turnovers while the Mustangs had 13.

The Bears will visit Silsbee Tuesday while the Mustangs travel to Lumberton.