Leader on the court
Perkins having solid senior year
Murphy Perkins has one mindset going into each and every basketball game — give it everything he has every time he takes the floor.
“I don’t really care who I’m playing, how big they are, how fast they are or how much talent they have on their team,” Perkins said. “I know that I’m going to play as hard as I can.”
The work ethic is evident in Perkins, a 6-foot senior point guard for the Siloam Springs boys basketball team. Heading into Friday’s homecoming game against Greenbrier, Perkins leads the Panthers in several statistical categories, including 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.4 defensive deflections per game.
What may be more impressive is Perkins averages more than 25 minutes per contest in a 32-minute game — something not lost on his coaches.
“His attitude and his effort have been amazing,” said Siloam Springs boys coach Tim Stewart.”People don’t realize the level of toughness that is there for a kid to keep battling and to play major minutes. He’s all over the floor. As far as dives and hustles it’s every game all game. It’s been a real joy to watch him develop and to not only be that competitive athlete but now be a leader and a basketball player for us.”
Early on in Perkins’ career, coaches would joke that Perkins played so hard and so fast that he often needed to downshift a few gears.
“He couldn’t catch up to his athleticism,” Stewart said. “That’s the skill part in basketball. You have to have the skill to match the athleticism or else it’s not useful. That’s where Murphy has really worked. His outside shot is much improved and you have to guard him out there now. He’s not just a penetration threat. He’s not just a dribble threat. He’s a shooter. That’s made him a really hard player to defend.”
And Perkins still plays fast with a motor that seemingly never runs out of gas and isn’t afraid to back down against bigger, more talented players.
“Growing up you always hear, if you’re going to mess up, then mess up going 110 miles per hour,” Perkins said. “So that’s what I try and do is play as hard as I can, and sometimes it comes back and bites me in the butt. For the most part, I think my enthusiasm goes over some of the talent that I’m lacking from some of these better players that we play against. I know that I’m going to play as hard as I can. I know that I can control how hard I play. I can’t control that I’m only 6-foot tall.”
Perkins has grown up in the Siloam Springs basketball program and joined the varsity as a sophomore in 2015-16, when he cracked into the playing rotation.
“It’s been a great journey,” Perkins said. “I had some good seniors when I was a sophomore that really made me feel welcome. I loved playing with them. It was just a really fun time.”
He saw major minutes as a junior last season and was second on the team in scoring at 7.3 points per game.
Perkins said he also learned a lot about leadership from last year’s Panther seniors.
“They showed me the ropes,” he said. “Tyler Pettit, he showed me how to communicate with the team, how to have leadership. Spencer Lashley taught me a lot. So did Diego Flores.”
Perkins came into the 2018-19 season as one of the Panthers’ top players and an obvious choice as a team leader. He hasn’t disappointed either, his coach said.
“He is really matured and is able to take the ups and downs of a game and a season in stride,” Stewart said. “We’ve been really impressed with how Murphy has continued to be coachable and has continued to want to learn and improve every day. He’s been the consummate leader for us.”
It was a role that Perkins embraced.
“Coming into this year, I knew that I had to be the guy that was in control and lead everyone on the court,” he said. “I’ve kind of adopted that and tried to incorporate that.”
The Panthers (7-12, 2-6 5A-West) got off to a 2-2 start in 5A-West Conference play before losing their next four games heading into Tuesday’s game at Alma. Results were not available at presstime.
Perkins admitted that being a leader in the tough times is difficult, especially when your teammates are counting on you to make plays on the court.
“It’s not easy,” Perkins said. “You’re trying to get guys going, and you might not be winning that many games right now, but what I try and tell them is we’re playing for each other. We’re not always playing for our record. Our seniors, it’s our last run and it’s the last few games of the year, so I’m trying to get them going.”
Perkins also is excited about the future of Siloam Springs basketball.
The Siloam Springs ninth-grade boys recently won 13 conference games in a row and they’ll move up to the junior varsity and varsity next season along with this year’s sophomores and juniors.
“We definitely have some talent coming up, and I know these juniors have bought in to what we’re trying to do,” Perkins said. “They’ve really shown how they can play this year. I’m excited to watch them next year.”
Among the group of sophomores is Perkins’ little brother Max Perkins, who scored his first varsity point last Friday at Beebe, which was a 3-pointer.
“Oh man that’s all I heard about on the car ride home. They didn’t care
about how I played,” Perkins said with a laugh. “It was all, ‘Oh we’re so proud of Max for hitting the shot.’ I’m like yeah it’s cool. I didn’t mind it.”