FARMINGTON -- With head coach Tim Stewart out with the flu, assistant Chris Cameron stepped in and senior Spencer Lashley stepped up to power Siloam Springs to a 71-65 overtime win at Farmington on Friday.
"Our kids showed incredible resilience," Cameron said. "Spencer was big. We've been challenging him all year to become more than just a scorer and be more of an all-around player and a leader for us. And tonight, it was everything we asked of him and we're extremely proud to see that."
The Panthers (6-16) trailed for most of regulation but stayed within striking distance of the Cardinals (6-15) with superb outside shooting. In fact, 11 of their 24 made field goals were 3-pointers.
"We had a chance to win the game and missed three or four layups and made some turnovers late in the game," said Farmington coach Beau Thompson. "And they shot the ball phenomenally. It seemed like 60 to 70 percent of their shots were 3-pointers.
"They made shots in the fourth quarter and overtime, and we didn't."
Down the stretch, Lashley took over with a refuse-to-lose attitude. He partially blocked Peyton Maxwell's shot attempt in the lane and grabbed the rebound as time expired in regulation. In overtime, he pulled down five more defensive rebounds and hit seven straight free throws to seal the victory.
"We just never gave up and knew we could do it," said Lashley, who finished with a team-high 23 points. "I didn't want to lose to them. We beat them at home and on top of that, last year, we let that guy (Matt Wilson) score 49 points on us, so we really wanted to come out of here with a win."
Siloam Springs trailed by as many as 12 points twice in the first half. The first came when Maxwell scored six points during an 8-0 run to help the Cards open up a 26-14 lead in early in the second quarter. After back-to-back 3-pointers by Lashley closed the margin to 26-20, a pair of buckets by Jacob Gray fueled a 6-0 run to push the lead back to 32-20.
A 3-pointer by Karson Clement highlighted a Siloam Springs run late in the first half, but the Panthers still trailed 34-27 at intermission.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Clement and Tyler Pettit made it 37-33 just 87 seconds into the second half and the teams would trade buckets until the Panthers rallied in the final three minutes of regulation.
The Panthers put together a 9-2 run behind a trio of 3-pointers with Lashley sinking the final one from the top of the key to knot the score at 61-61 with 38 seconds remaining. Clement and Diego Flores sank the other two 3-pointers and Flores also drew a key offensive charge call when he held his ground as Farmington's Xavier Staten barreled toward the rim.
Maxwell, who finished with a game-high 30 points, hit a pair of free throws to begin overtime, but Siloam Springs would go on to score the next seven points thanks to Lashley's efforts on the defensive glass and at the free throw line.
Cameron coached Moseley's middle school team in Oklahoma, but this was the first time he served as head coach at the variety level. He joked that he's now 1-0 as a head high school coach.
"I should probably retire and go out a winner," Cameron said. "We just tried to bring as much excitement as we could and tried to be an extension of (coach Stewart) and keep the kids focused in what was a hostile environment."
Siloam Springs 71, Farmington 65(OT)
Siloam Springs 14 13 20 14 10 -- 71
Farmington 24 10 16 11 4 -- 65
Siloam Springs (6-16): Lashley 23, Clement 9, Perkins 8, Wakefield 8, Flores 6, Pettit 5, Wright 4, Sauer 3, Stewart 3, Vachon 2.
Farmington (6-15): Maxwell 30, J. Montez 8, S. Montez 7, Killion 6, Downs 5, Staten 5, Gray 4.
Girls: Farmington 67, Siloam Springs 40
With Siloam Springs point guard Chloe Price out with a concussion, Farmington took advantage early and often en route to a 27-point victory.
The Lady Cardinals (25-8) never trailed as super sophomores Makenna Vanzant, Joelle Tidwell and Audrey Culpepper combined for 43 points. They used a tenacious, full-court press to open with an 8-0 lead behind five points by Vanzant, who fought through tight man defense throughout to lead all scorers with 16 points.
"We press to create turnovers and to create pace," said Farmington coach Brad Johnson. "The plan was from the first time we played them to create pace, to speed them up ... and it created turnovers that we converted into points. That gave us a little springboard right off the bat.
"And I thought Makenna Vanzant played a phenomenal game, on both ends. She pushed our transition. She pushed the tempo and hit big shots. She just did what Makenna does."
The Lady Panthers (6-16) closed the margin to 21-15 on a 3-pointer by Jael Harried and buckets by Morgan Vaughn and Hadlee Hollenback before a personal 8-0 run by Culpepper, including a pair of 3-pointers, pushed the lead to 36-20 by halftime.
"We came into the game saying we weren't going to let (Vanzant) and (Madison Pense) beat us," said Siloam Springs coach Tim Rippy. "But as soon as we started to guard them a little better, then someone else would heat up and that would get us spread out trying to defend the entire floor.
"They've got so many weapons."
The lead remained the same throughout the third quarter as Siloam Springs was able to keep up with Farmington's offensive pace until Vanzant completed a traditional 3-point play late in the quarter to extend the lead back to 47-30.
In the fourth quarter, former Siloam Springs player Alexis Roach scored five straight points to spark a run that helped Farmington put the game away.
Tidwell had 15 points, Culpepper had 12 and senior Camryn Journagan had 10 to give the Lady Cardinals four players in double figures.
"You love to see that balance," Johnson said. "That's the strength of our basketball team. We're pretty versatile and they share the ball really well. As a coach, it's nice to know you have lots of options, lots of weapons, and it makes it more difficult to defend us."
Farmington 67, Siloam Springs 40
Siloam Springs 11 9 10 10 -- 40
Farmington 20 16 11 20 -- 67
Siloam Springs (6-16): Hollenback 9, Vaughn 8, Johnson 8, Harried 7, Noel 3, Ponticello 3, Buckminister 2.
Farmington (25-8): Vanzant 16, Tidwell 15, Culpepper 12, Journagan 10, Pense 6, Roach 6, Ball 2.
Sports on 01/28/2018