An unexpected and sudden blast of winter weather Friday afternoon cancelled Siloam Springs' final regular season home basketball games against Bryant.
The games were called off a little before 4 p.m. after a wintry mix began to fall earlier in the afternoon and never stopped.
Both Bryant teams were already in Northwest Arkansas when the decision was made to cancel the games. The Bryant buses turned around and returned south.
"We started getting calls about the roads south of here," said Siloam Springs athletics director said. "Their buses were close by and they turn around and made it back safely.
"To be safe, that's what they decided to do. We agreed because it wasn't going to be safe going back."
The winter weather was a suprise, Downing said.
"We were caught off guard because they weren't calling for anything," he said. "It was the right call to cancel and just unfortunate the weather got bad on us."
The Siloam Springs-Bryant games weren't the only ones cancelled Friday. The Russellville-Van Buren doubleheader and Alma-Conway games were also cancelled. Greenwood still played its games in Little Rock against Mount St. Mary and Little Rock Catholic.
Though no official announcement has been made, it is likely Siloam Springs' games against Bryant will not be made up.
Bryant still had a makeup game to play Saturday and the Hornets and Lady Hornets were scheduled to play 7A State Tournament games on Wednesday.
Senior night
Downing said Saturday he received permission from the Arkansas Activities Association for Siloam Springs to hold Senior Night cermonies on Thursday afternoon before the Lady Panthers and Panthers play their 6A state tournament games, which will be held in Siloam Springs.
The ceremonies were supposed to be held Friday before the games against Bryant.
Downing said those ceremonies will probably start around 12:15 p.m., followed by the Lady Panthers' game at 1 p.m. and Panthers at 2:30 p.m.
Official 6A State Tournament brackets were not available at presstime.
Downing said to check the school district's Facebook page or Twitter account -- @Siloam_Panthers -- this week for more information.
Sports on 03/01/2015