Ward, Panthers blast Eagles
Senior erupts for 17 points in second half
Landon Ward’s offense and the Siloam Springs’ boys 3-2 zone defense proved to be a tough combination for Huntsville to handle on Friday night.
Ward erupted for 17 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and the Panthers clamped down defensively in a 57-34 victory in a nonconference basketball game at Panther Activity Center.
Siloam Springs (3-2) led 17-16 late in the second quarter when it took control of the game with a 7-0 surge to lead 24-16 at halftime. That carried over into the third quarter with a 14-0 run to open the second half blew open the game.
“We told the kids at halftime we thought they had done a lot of good things,” said Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart. “But we weren’t quite able to get the payoff. So you do all these good things. You get a stop. You get a great look, you dink a layup or you miss a free throw. But the energy and the effort to be in the right place on both ends of the floor was really good tonight. We haven’t seen that to this point this year, so that’s the biggest difference, the maturity to execute. Then in the third quarter it all kind of came together.”
Baskets by Josh Stewart, Dalton Newman and Ward helped spur the second quarter run into halftime.
Ward took over the game at the very start of the third quarter when he nailed a 3-pointer from the wing.
Murphy Perkins had a putback of a Josh Stewart miss to go up 29-16 and Ward added another 3-pointer for a 32-16 lead.
With 2 minutes, 41 seconds left in the quarter, Ward converted an old fashioned three-point play and then followed that with a 3-pointer in the corner as Siloam Springs blew the game open for a 38-16 lead.
“When he gets it with his motor going, it is hard to guard,” Tim Stewart said of Ward, who scored 12 in the third quarter.
Ward was on the Eagles’ radar according to Huntsville coach Grant Myrick.
“We were really concerned about him driving and getting to the rim,” Myrick. “He’s a great athlete — fast quick and gets to the rim. Tonight he knocked a bunch of threes down for them. He kind of did everything for them. He’s definitely they’re spark plug and we had trouble containing him for sure.”
Ward opened the fourth quarter with another 3-pointer, his fourth of the night. Breck Soderquist and Newman would later add treys as the Panthers built up a 25-point lead.
“They’ve got a good team,” Myrick said. “They’re long. They’re athletic. That 3-2 zone they play — it’s something you don’t see a whole lot of. It’s hard to prepare for. We felt like we were pretty prepared. I felt like our biggest flaw tonight was we either didn’t take the shot when we were open or when we did take the shot it just didn’t go in. That’s probably more credit to them getting a hand in our face. They’re long. They contest every shot. It’s hard to box out and rebound. We felt like we were very outmatched size-wise.”
Tim Stewart was pleased with the job the Panthers did defensively, including limiting Huntsville guards Hunter Davidson and Matthew Sisk to a combined 14 points.
“We thought our kids made them uncomfortable. and if we can get better at that, making whoever we’re playing uncomfortable, we’ll be OK,” Tim Stewart said. “Davidson is a great player. He’s hit shots against Rogers and Fayetteville. We were
worried about him, and Sisk, both those kids are great high school players, and our zone did a good enough job corralling them. We’re excited.”
Hayden Dotson led Huntsville (1-5) with 12 points, while Davidson had eight and Sisk six.
Newman chipped in nine points for Siloam Springs, while Soderquist had eight, including a pair of 3-pointers. Josh Stewart had seven, Jackson Ford six and Max Perkins and Carter Winesburg each had two for the Panthers.
“Go down the list, everybody that played executed and played with great energy, got a rebound or two, and all the sudden you’re got seven kids all contributing and doing the little things right, and it snowballs,” Tim Stewart said. “And then the shots go in all the sudden. Then you’re lead goes from eight to 15 to 25. Really proud — good bounce back game.”
Siloam Springs will now play at Bentonville on Tuesday before traveling to Farmington on Friday and facing former SSHS coach (2009-2011) Johnny Taylor.
“They’ve got a lot of talented players,” Tim Stewart said of Bentonville. “They’ve got good length, good shooters. It’s going to be a great challenge. And then it doesn’t get any easier after that. Bentonville, Farmington, Fayetteville, Rogers — it’s four games we think are conference caliber before we run in to Vilonia to start it off. It’s good for us.”
Siloam Springs 57, Huntsville 34
Huntsville 7 9 7 11 — 34
Siloam Springs 10 14 16 17 — 57
Huntsville (1-5): Dotson 12, H. Davidson 8, Sisk 6, Easterling 2, McElhaney 2, Reynolds 2, M. Davidson 2.
Siloam Springs (3-2): Ward 23, Newman 9, Soderquist 8, Stewart 7, Ford 6, Perkins 2, Winesburg 2.