Siloam Springs came through with a victory on its coach's birthday.
The Panthers built a 20-point lead in the first half and made just enough plays late to hold off Russellville 52-47 on Tuesday in Panther Activity Center.
The Panthers' big lead had been trimmed to 46-44 with a little more than 2 minutes left after Javion White hit his third 3-pointer of the fourth quarter.
But that was as close as the Cyclones would get as the Panthers finished off the 5A/6A District 1 victory.
"Good birthday present from the boys," said Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart, who was celebrating his 46th birthday. "Couldn't be more proud of the team handling some adversity. We had some kids that didn't play tonight, and kids that hadn't gotten as many minutes stepped up and really contributed."
Senior forward Spencer Lashley led the Panthers with 19 points, including seven points in the fourth quarter and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line in the final minutes. Siloam Springs senior guard Diego Flores scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half.
After the Panthers' lead was cut to 2, Flores hit a free throw with 2 minutes, 6 seconds left for a 47-44 lead.
The Cyclones turned it over twice in a row and the Panthers cashed in for four straight points. Jacob Wakefield scored inside and Lashley hit a pair of free throws for a 51-44 lead with 33.4 seconds left.
"In basketball, the flow of the game changes," Stewart said. "You're playing with that big lead, and they start cutting into it and the pressure kind of reverts back to the team with the lead. That's hard and our kids struggled with it and made some mistakes. But when it got down to the end, we were able to function under pressure, get to the free-throw line, hit enough free throws to win the game and rebound."
Siloam Springs led 18-2 after the first quarter and pulled ahead 24-4 in the second quarter after a 3-pointer from Jordan Stewart. Lashley and Flores also hit 3-pointers early in the Panthers' run.
The Panthers led 27-10 at halftime, but Russellville trimmed the lead to 38-29 going into the fourth quarter.
The Panthers were playing without several key players, including starting guard Murphy Perkins, who was sick, and Marquan Sorrells.
It was another tough loss for the Cyclones (5-13, 0-5), who remained winless in league play. Kade Shaffer led Russellville with 12 points, while White had nine, all in the fourth quarter on three 3-pointers.
"I think we've lost seven games by one possession or less this year," said Russellville coach Matt Hall. "This one doesn't fall under that category, but I think it was a two-point game with two minutes to go. We've been right there all year. We just haven't been able to get over the hump."
Siloam Springs 52, Russellville 47
Russellville^2^8^19^18^^--^47
Siloam Springs^18^9^11^14^--^52
Russellville (5-13, 0-5): Shaffer 12, White 9, George 7, Sitkowski 6, Talley 5, Adkins 4, Peter 4,
Siloam Springs (5-14, 3-2): Lashley 19, Flores 13, Wakefield 7, Stewart 6, Vachon 4, Pettit 2, Clement 1.
Sports on 01/21/2018