Mounties rule fourth quarter
■ Rogers’ 20-0 run the difference in loss Tuesday night.
Siloam Springs clawed and scratched and held a lead for most of the first three quarters Tuesday night in the Panther Activity Center.
But Rogers High turned up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter, holding the Panthers scoreless for almost five minutes and rolled to a 67-52 nonconference road victory in high school boys’ basketball action.
The Mounties (7-2) went on a 20-0 fourth-quarter run keyed by senior Drew Miller, who scored 13 by himself in the spree. The Rogers defense forced the Panthers (5-4) to take off-balance, contested shots most of the final eight minutes, and that turned the tide.
Evan Sauer’s bucket inside gave Siloam Springs a 48-43 lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter, but the Panthers wouldn’t score again until Murphy Perkins scored in the lane with 2 minutes, 32 seconds left. Siloam Springs trailed by 13 after Perkins’ basket.
Rogers coach Lamont Frazier said that fourth quarter shows what his team can do.
“That goes back to what these guys are capable of doing when they get locked in,” Frazier said. “I thought there were times when we were not necessarily complacent, but we were a little bit passive.
“When we finally made up our minds to get out and play, it turned into the kind of game these guys are good at, which is to defend and let’s get out and run.”
That’s exactly what happened in the fourth quarter as Rogers turned missed shots by Siloam Springs into 3-pointers in transition. Miller finished with a gamehigh 25 points, but that included 14 in the fourth quarter and four 3-pointers.
Miller’s second 3-pointer of the barrage gave Rogers a 54-48 lead, and Elliot Paschal fed Karsen Uecker for an easy bucket inside. Derek Hobbs followed with a steal in the backcourt, and Miller finished it with a layup and a 10-point Rogers advantage with 4:36 left.
Paschal finished with 17 points for the Mounties, while Uecker added 16 — including four 3-pointers. Sauer led the Panthers with 18, including 10 in the first half. Perkins was also in double figures with 11.
Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart said Rogers’ pressure was too much in the fourth quarter.
“Our kids battled, but in the fourth quarter they were able to turn up the defense,” Stewart said. “We weren’t able to get any easy looks. We lost Drew in transition a couple times, and it went from a six-point lead, and it felt
like two days that we didn’t score.
Siloam Springs led much of the first three quarters and was the aggressor most of that time, but Frazier said that’s something his team is working to change.
“We have a habit of getting punched, and then once we get punched we get going,” Frazier said. “That’s something we’re trying to change. If we can come out and play the first part of the game like we do the latter parts of the game, who knows what type of situations we’ll be in?”
Both teams won’t be in action again until after the holidays in the Siloam Springs Holiday Classic.
Rogers High 67, Siloam Springs 52
Rogers 12 16 15 24 — 67 Siloam Springs 17 11 18 6 — 52 Rogers (7-2): Miller 25, Paschal 17, Uecker 16, Carter 3, Hobbs 2, Park 2, Liddell 2.
Siloam Springs (5-4): Sauer 18, Perkins 11, Vachon 8, Ward 5, Clement 3, Sleklinski 3, Stewart 2, Wright 2.