Siloam Springs couldn't close out a victory against Rogers Heritage in regulation Friday, but the Panthers made up for it in the overtime period.
Seniors Tucker Gambill and Roman Lambert hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the extra period and Siloam Springs hit 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch as the Panthers defeated the War Eagles 58-50 inside Panther Activity Center.
Siloam Springs 58, Heritage 50
Rogers Heritage 9 7 7 21 6 — 50
Siloam Springs 12 6 7 19 14 — 58
Rogers Heritage (8-2): Connor Hirsh 16, Lexus Hobbs 13, Marcus Breedlove 9, Irvin Menendez 5, Chris Coover 4, Julian Jensen 2, Dane Olsen 1.
Siloam Springs (6-3): Roman Lambert 19, Kyle Snavely 12, Tyler Newton 10, Tucker Gambill 6, Kyle Comiskey 6, Keetun Pierce 3, Brandon Johnson 2.
Siloam Springs led Heritage 43-38 with 1:19 left in regulation, but the Panthers had costly turnovers and missed free throws in the fourth quarter that allowed Heritage to rally and tie the game at 44 with 10 seconds left.
Gambill got a good look at a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, but the shot missed and the game went into overtime.
After the Panthers won the overtime tip, Gambill knocked down a trey to give them a 47-44 lead and they wouldn't trail again.
"We griped at Tucker because he got the same shot 30 seconds earlier in regulation," Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart said with a laugh. "I wish he would have hit that one."
The Panthers got a stop on defense and Lambert hit another 3-pointer for a 50-44 lead.
"Tucker and Roman hit the big three's, and then we rebounded," Stewart said. "That was a huge step."
Lambert and Tyler Newton would go on to hit 8 of 12 free throws as the Panthers finished off the War Eagles (8-2).
Earlier in the game, free throws proved costly for the Panthers.
Siloam Springs only hit 11 of 20 free throws in regulation and finished 19 of 32 for the night.
"Early we missed free throws, and that's kind of out of character for us," Stewart said. "That's kind of what we hang our hat on.
"But man the kids handled pressure and we didn't have a turnover fest, and it put us in a spot to win a really quality game tonight. It's fun going into the break to end it like that."
The Panthers (6-3) only turned the ball over 12 times, which was half of their 24 turnovers in a 64-51 win against Catoosa, Okla., in their previous game on Dec. 13.
The Panthers controlled most of Friday's game against the War Eagles.
They took an 8-3 lead in the first quarter powered by five points from Kyle Snavely and led 12-9 after the first quarter.
Kyle Comiskey and Lambert hit 3-pointers to open the second quarter as the Panthers pulled ahead 18-9, but Heritage went on a 7-0 run before halftime to pull within 18-16 at the break.
Snavely had a three-point play, and Brandon Johnson scored inside for a 25-21 lead in the third quarter.
Leading 25-23 to open the fourth, Lambert and Comiskey hit back-to-back treys for a 31-26 lead. Heritage, however, answered with a 6-1 run to tie the game at 32.
Siloam Springs pulled back ahead 35-32 after a three-point play from Tyler Newton and led from there until Heritage tied it up at 44 with 11.1 seconds left when Connor Hirsh split a pair of free throws.
"We couldn't make a perimeter shots, couldn't make a free throw and we couldn't make a shot around the basket," said Heritage coach Tom Olsen. "They made shots and we didn't. We had a chance to win the game with 10 seconds left at the line and tied it up. Honestly, we were probably lucky to be in that situation. Give a lot of credit to Siloam. They had a good game plan, and we missed a lot of the shots that we normally make."
Stewart said the win was a quality one for the Panthers.
"Kids are starting to feel their comfort zone for what they can do and what they can't do," he said. "How to handle certain situations. It got real physical there toward the end of the fourth quarter, where the refs are going to let the players make plays. Our kids, we won some of those battles and we lost some of those battles, but through it all we had that resilient toughness to keep our heads and make just enough plays to stay ahead of their big push."
Stewart said the Panthers have to improve under pressure in the fourth quarter.
"It's our Achilles right now -- the guard play against pressure," Stewart said. "It's the one thing that every day we're concentrating on. We'd love to see our kids take steps to improve."
Lambert led the Panthers with 19 points, while Snavely had 12 and Newton 10.
Hirsh led Heritage with 16 points, while Lexus Hobbs had 13 for the War Eagles. Marcus Breedlove added nine points for Heritage.
The Panthers are now off until their opening game of the Siloam Springs Holiday Classic at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 30 against Shiloh Christian (2-8).
Sports on 12/21/2014