Panthers finish off Van Buren
■ Siloam Springs earned its third straight win Tuesday.
With the game on the line Tuesday, the Siloam Springs boys basketball team rose to the occasion.
The Panthers converted 7 of 8 from the free-throw line and forced two late Van Buren turnovers to put away a 53-44 5AWest Conference victory inside Panther Activity Center.
Van Buren, which trailed by 12 points early in the fourth, trimmed the Panthers’ lead to 46-42 with less than two minutes remaining, capitalizing on three Siloam Springs turnovers.
But Landon Ward and Dalton Newman each sank a pair of free throws, and Josh Stewart hit 3 of 4 to clinch the Panthers’ third straight win and season sweep of Van Buren.
“We had three silly turnovers in a row, and they capitalized and cut it, and it was anybody’s game right there,” said Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart. “Our kids did rally and show the toughness that we think should have and hit free throws and made plays on both ends to gap it back out to nine.”
The Panthers jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter and, after an early 3-2 deficit, never trailed again.
Siloam Springs led 20-14 after the first quarter and 29-23 at halftime. The Panthers had several players involved as well as Newman and Stewart each hit 3-pointers in the first half, while Jackson Ford and Nick Gray contributed baskets inside.
Siloam Springs led 39-31 after the third quarter and pulled ahead 43-31 after a Ward bank shot for their biggest lead of the night.
The Pointers sliced into the lead as Jose Estrada seven of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a basket to pull Van Buren within 46-42. But the Pointers would not get any closer.
“I mean it’s a four-point game with two minutes to go and you’ve got to get stops and you’ve got to get baskets, and instead we threw it in the stands and gave them offensive rebounds, putbacks, fouls,” said Van Buren coach Brad Autry. “That’s the bottom line — bottom line to every team in America, around the world in basketball. It’s going to come down, if you’re any good at all, to the last two or three minutes and doing what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it. And you can’t throw it in the stands. And you can’t give up offensive rebound putbacks. And you can’t foul them and put them on the line, or you can’t win.”
It was Van Buren’s second loss in a week to Siloam Springs. The Panthers rallied from an early 11-point deficit last week to knock off the Pointers 57-47 at Clair Bates Arena. Autry was proud of his team for fighting back but said they had to play smarter.
“These guys are fighters. They’re absolutely fighters,” he said. “But you can’t fight unintelligently. You have to fight with purpose. If you have water going 9,000 different directions it’s just a big lake. But if you condense it and you’re concentrated with it, it will cut through metal. We can’t have energy going 9,000 different directions and foolish decisions. We’ve got to concentrate and be disciplined in what we’re doing.”
Brandon Miller led Van Buren with 19 points, while Estrada had 17 and Avery Salisbury eight.
Josh Stewart led Siloam Springs with 15 points, while Newman had 14, Ford nine, Ward six, Nate Vachon five and Gray four.
“We got a lot of different guys involved on offense,” Tim Stewart said. “(The Pointers) have two really good scorers in Salisbury and Estrada. For the most part, we made them work to get what they got, then held them under their average. It wasn’t our best
performance on the glass. I think we let them have too many offensive rebounds that let to second chances and let a team of fighters hang around.” Siloam Springs 53, Van Buren 44
Van Buren 14 9 8 13 — 44 Siloam Springs 20 9 10 14 — 53 Van Buren (9-7, 3-5): Miller 19, Estrada 17, Salisbury 8. Siloam Springs (9-11, 4-5): Stewart 15, Newman 14, Ford 9, Ward 6, Vachon 5, Gray 4.
Bombers 60, Panthers 48
Mountain Home caught fire in the third quarter against the Panthers’ zone defense, building a ninepoint lead that never again dipped below five.
Junior Luke Proctor poured in 13 of his gamehigh 19 in the third period, and the Bombers led by as much as 42-33.
Siloam Springs’ Josh Stewart scored 14 of his team-high 16 in the second half to keep the Panthers in the hunt, but the visitors were only 3-of-10 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, while the hosts went 7-of-7.
Jake McGehee and Wyatt Gilbert added 17 and 13, respectively, for the Bombers, while Nathan Vachon added 14 for the Panthers.
The Bombers, who had not played in two weeks, improve to 6-9 overall and 2-4 in 5A-West play.