Siloam Springs Hands Farmington Boys Third Straight Loss

SILOAM SPRINGS — On the heels of a tournament championship last week in Inola, Okla., Siloam Springs’ boys didn’t have the same zip and spark they’ve shown lately in Tuesday night’s nonconference game against Farmington.

Still, the Panthers found some juice midway through the third quarter to turn a five-point Cardinals’ lead into a 53-40 victory inside the Panther Activity Center.

It was Siloam Springs’ fifth straight win since losing at Rogers High 62-33 on Dec. 3.

“Coming off the big championship week, there could be some fatigue there still,” Panthers coach Tim Stewart said. “It’s finals week; it’s

Christmas break — all this stuff. Bottom line is when the ball goes up we have to compete, and we didn’t do that to our best tonight, so we’re going to learn from it. Fortunately, and to our kids’ credit, they were able to turn the tide and find a way to make it happen tonight, so that’s good.”

Farmington led 30-25 midway through the third after Logan Burch hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

The Cardinals then turned the ball over two straight times, and Siloam Springs took advantage with Landon Ward hitting four straight free throws in two consecutive possessions to pull within 30-29.

Siloam Springs (7-1) then got a shot in the arm when Josh Stewart and Evan Sauer scored a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays on back-to-back possessions to take a 35-31 lead. The Panthers carried a 37-34 lead into the third quarter and got up seven before spreading the ball out and making the Cardinals chase the ball.

“We felt like halfway through the third quarter we got a little momentum and started playing with a little more passion and energy and effort,” Tim Stewart said.

“It never broke loose, but we were strong down the stretch with the ball and hit free throws.”

Farmington (4-4), meanwhile, went cold offensively, only scoring six points in the fourth quarter.

“We have all the characteristics of a young team,” Farmington coach Beau Thompson said. “You know, we play three sophomores all the time. We’re just having a hard time scoring right now. … Like I said we’re just struggling to find our way right now.”

Logan Landwehr and Austin Shelley each scored 12 points to lead Farmington, while Burch had 11. The loss was Farmington’s third straight.

“We’ve had some really good wins,” Thompson said.

“We beat some teams we probably shouldn’t have like Bentonville and Van Buren. We lost a few games at home that I thought we should have won. I thought this was going to be a good test for us. We haven’t been on the road much. Give Siloam credit. They played better than us in the third and fourth quarter.”

Sauer and Ward each had 13 to lead the Panthers. Thad Wright chipped in 11 points for Siloam Springs with Josh Stewart scoring 10.