Home court advantage
Panthers hope for continued success in holiday tournament.
The Siloam Springs boys basketball team went into Christmas break on a roll, winning its last two games against Rogers and Tahlequah Sequoyah.
The Panthers hope to keep up that momentum this week in the tournament they’ve always had success in.
The seventh annual Siloam Springs Holiday Classic tips off this week at Panther Activity Center, and the Panthers will be playing at 8:30 p.m. today in the final game of the day.
Since its inception six years ago in December of 2010, the Panthers have won two tournament championships (2012-13, 2013-14), finished second twice (2010-11, 2011-12) and finished third the last two years. Overall, they’ve gone 14-4 combined in the previous six tournaments.
The Panthers’ past success in the tournament plus their most recent success this season have given them optimism heading into the week.
“We are really excited with the growth and overall improvements we have seen from our team,” head coach Tim Stewart said. “We’ve come a long ways from the Huntsville (benefit) game in November. That being said we’ll need to keep improving to be able to compete every night in our conference this season.
“The Holiday Tournament will be a lot of good basketball for everyone to come out and enjoy. We play Prairie Grove in the first round, which will be a great challenge for our guys. They will be a very athletic team that will test us in a lot of areas.”
Seven of the eight teams in last year’s tournament are back for this year, with the exception being Inola, Okla.
Arkansas schools Siloam Springs, Prairie Grove, Greenwood, Rogers and defending tournament champion Springdale along with Oklahoma schools Claremore, Coweta and Tulsa Holland Hall round out this year’s tournament field.
The winner/loser of today’s game between Siloam Springs and Prairie Grove is paired up with the winner/ loser of Rogers and Coweta.
“The other side of the tournament is loaded as well with Claremore and Springdale looking to get to finals again,” Stewart said. “It’s a well balanced and talented tournament that should be fun to watch.”
Siloam Springs defeated Coweta 60-48 in the third place game last year, while Springdale topped Rogers 55-41 in the championship.
Rogers upset Siloam Springs in the semifinals to reach the finals last year.
Siloam Springs (4-7) opened the season with only two wins in its first seven games. But the Panthers defeated Rogers 52-30 at home on Dec. 13 and followed that up with a 10-point road win at Tahlequah Sequoyah on Dec. 16.
The Panthers have had balanced scoring across the board in their first 11 games.
Senior forward Josh Hunt leads the team at 12.3 points per game, while senior guard Charlie Jones averaged 10 points per game and senior forwards Noah Karp and Harrison Kretzer both at 9.5 points per game.
Junior guard Spencer Lashley is averaging 6.5 points per game, while senior guard Omar Vazquez has come on strong in his last four games, averaging 5.7 points per game.