‘Long time coming’
Panthers win Inola tournament for first time since 2007
INOLA, Okla. — The Siloam Springs boys basketball team will be adding a first place plaque to the trophy case — one the Panthers haven’t captured in nearly 12 years.
Siloam Springs went on a 22-2 run in the second half to run past previously unbeaten Verdigris (Okla.) 62-46 in the championship game of the Jerry Oquin Invitational on Saturday night on Clyde Barkley Court at the Longhorn Indoor Sports Arena.
It’s the first time the Panthers have won this particular tournament since December 2007, when the eventual Class 5A state champion Panthers — led by coach Jason McMahan — defeated Tahlequah Sequoyah 63-57 in overtime.
The Panthers have made the trip to Inola every year since then and had some extremely talented teams come up short. But on Saturday night the Panthers were not going to be denied.
“It’s been a long time coming and it’s always a super competitive tournament,” said Panthers head coach Tim Stewart, who’s had teams finish anywhere from second and third to going winless in the tournament over the years. “We played a really good Verdigris team tonight that made several really good runs, and our players stepped up each time and continued to make plays and made some huge baskets — really proud of them.”
Siloam Springs (6-1) looked like it might run away with the game early, building a 16-point lead in the second quarter.
Verdigris (4-1) whittled that lead to 34-32 in the third quarter and trailed the Panthers 40-37 late in the third quarter. That’s when sophomore Carter Winesburg made a play that ignited the Panthers.
With the final seconds of the third quarter ticking down,
Winesburg crossed just past the center court line and splashed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Panthers a 43-37 lead going into the fourth.
The Panthers would then outscore the Cardinals 19-2 over the first 6 minutes, 39 seconds of the fourth to open up a 62-39 lead.
Senior guard Evan Sauer opened up the fourth with a jump shot and sophomore Josh Stewart hit a 3-pointer to go up 48-37. Verdigris answered with a basket from Zander Kirby, but it would be the only basket the Cardinals would score in that stretch.
Senior guard Drew Vachon came back with a driving basket and Sauer converted a traditional three-point play. Vachon and Sauer continued to tag team the Cardinals, with Vachon adding another basket, Sauer hitting two free throws and adding his own driving basket. Vachon then hit a 3-pointer on the wing for a 62-39 advantage.
“When we get into those tight moments, we focus on not caving in,” Vachon said. “We focus on giving our full effort and digging ourselves out of that hole.”
Sauer scored nine of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, averaging 16 points per game.
“I’m just really happy that we came out and executed our game plan every game,” Sauer said. We started out the tournament not shooting very well against Coweta and we just relied on our defense and energy and effort. Played every possession like the game was tied and everything was on the line.”
Vachon led the Panthers with 17 points and was named to the all-tournament team, averaging
15.6 points in the three games, which included a 63-56 overtime win against Coweta (Okla.) in the opening game on Dec. 10 and a 74-64 win over Pryor (Okla.) on Thursday, Dec. 12.
The sophomores Josh Stewart and Winesburg added 11 and 10 points respectively, with Winesburg’s being a season-high off the bench.
“Carter’s one of those guys where the team knows he’s really talented as a sophomore,” Sauer said. “If someone’s in foul trouble, he’s one of the next guys up. He definitely did his job and played confident.”
Winesburg scored eight of his points in the third quarter, giving the Panthers an offensive lift when Verdigris was closing in. He also helped in a big way defensively, his coach said.
“It wasn’t just the scoring,” Tim Stewart said. “The scoring was huge, but then on defense he had several tips and steals and a big rebound. He really was a huge spark for us off the bench — couldn’t have won it without him.”
Tyler Haddock led Verdigris with 14 points. Verdigris coach Chris Houk said the Panthers gave his team all kinds of problems on offense.
“Their zone, you know we were settling for threes, and we weren’t making them,” Houk said. “That deep three (by Winesburg) at the end to go from three to six, it just seemed like we just couldn’t get back over that hump, and we just gave up too many easy (buckets) down there on our end. Then the threes that they did get, they hit. I’m interested to see their shooting percentage. They shot it really well all week.”
Siloam Springs was scheduled to return to action Tuesday at home against Farmington. Results were not available at presstime.
The Panthers will host Mountain Home at 7 p.m. Friday in their final game before the Christmas break.
“We’ll have two of the toughest games we’ve had next week with Farmington and Mountain Home,” Stewart said. “It’s a really good preseason schedule, good experience for the conference. The growth has been really fun to watch. Again our schedule has been really good, and it’s going to end with a Mountain Home team that’s really going to challenge us, which we need. They’re a lot like Vilonia with big strong kids and talented. It’ll be a great challenge.”