Panthers come alive

n The Siloam Springs boys defeated Little Rock Christian for their second straight win.

Graham Thomas/Siloam Sunday Siloam Springs junior guard Evan Sauer brings the ball up the floor as Little Rock Christian's Luke Grawer defends during Friday's game at Panther Activity Center. Siloam Springs defeated Little Rock Christian 66-52.
Graham Thomas/Siloam Sunday Siloam Springs junior guard Evan Sauer brings the ball up the floor as Little Rock Christian's Luke Grawer defends during Friday's game at Panther Activity Center. Siloam Springs defeated Little Rock Christian 66-52.

Siloam Springs' boys have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, but the Panthers aren't playing like it here lately.

Four Siloam Springs players scored in double figures and the Panthers won their second straight 5A-West Conference game 66-52 against Little Rock Christian 66-52 at Panther Activity Center.

5A-West Conference basketball standings

Boys^Overall^Conf.

Team^W-L^W-L

Russellville^18-6^10-2

Greenbrier^19-6^9-3

Vilonia^15-11^8-4

Alma^16-6^7-5

LR Christian^11-13^6-6

Beebe^9-15^4-8

Siloam Springs^9-14^4-8

Greenwood^3-21^0-12

Last week

February 12

Siloam Springs 56, Greenwood 27

LR Christian 43, Beebe 41

Vilonia 60, Greenbrier 48

Russellville 61, Alma 58

February 15

Siloam Springs 66, LR Christian 52

Greenbrier 78, Alma 55

Beebe 49, Greenwood 40

Vilonia 77, Russellville 67

This week

Tuesday’s games

Russellville at Siloam Springs

Alma at Greenwood

Greenbrier at Beebe

Vilonia at LR Christian

Friday’s games

Siloam Springs at Vilonia

Beebe at Alma

Greenwood at Greenbrier

LR Christian at Russellville

"Man we're so proud of the boys," Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart said. "They're playing their guts out right now when mathematically we're out. We've been really preaching to them about playing for pride, playing for each other, having fun and being the hardest working team. To see them do that, and to see guys have their best games, as coaches, it's a real joy to see."

Junior guard Evan Sauer hit three 3-pointers and led the Panthers (9-14, 4-8) with 16 points and senior guard Murphy Perkins added 14, but it was the Panthers' production down low that got the job done.

Senior Jacob Wakefield scored a season-high 15 points, and junior post Thad Wright muscled his way to a season-high 14 for Siloam Springs, which again was outsized by a bigger Warriors team. Drew Vachon added seven points for the Panthers.

"It was really just a team effort," Wakefield said. "I mean, we knew coming into this game that we shouldn't have won that game, but we really just came together and put it all together and played for each other and played for a bigger purpose outside of just winning the basketball game."

Little Rock Christian (11-3, 6-6) scored the opening points of the game on a 3-pointer by Colin Cooper, but Siloam Springs scored the next nine points to take the lead for good.

The Panthers led by double digits in the second quarter, but Little Rock Christian cut the lead to 33-26 at halftime. The Panthers got it back to double digits in the third after a baskets by Perkins, a 3-pointer for Drew Vachon. Wakefield's basket at the end of the third put Siloam Springs ahead 47-35.

Wakefield was particularly impressed with Wright's play inside. A big play occured in the fourth quarter with Siloam Springs leading by eight and Murphy Perkins at the free-throw line. Perkins missed the shot, but Wright overpowered the Little Rock Christian blockout to grab the offensive rebound and stick it back in as Siloam Springs went back up 10 points.

"Man, (Wright) is a workhorse," Wakefield said. "He does a lot of groundwork underneath, getting rebounds and just muscling everybody underneath. You could tell in there with him going inside and getting all the offensive rebounds and putbacks."

The Warriors made one last run in the fourth, whittling the lead down to 53-47, but the Panthers finished off the game with baskets from Sauer and Wakefield and going 8 of 9 from the free-throw line as a team.

Siloam Springs 66, LR Christian 52

LR Christian 11 15 9 17 -- 52

Siloam Springs 13 20 14 19 -- 66

LR Christian (11-13, 6-6): Grawer 12, Cooper 11, Finley 9, Sorvillo 9, Wood 4, K. Givens 4, B. Givens 3.

Siloam Springs (9-14, 4-8): Sauer 16, Wakefield 15, Wright 14, Perkins 14, Vachon 7.

Siloam Springs 56, Greenwood 27

The Siloam Springs boys basketball team snapped a six-game losing streak Tuesday night with a 56-27 win over Greenwood at H.B. Stewart Bulldog Arena.

The Panthers led 12-7 after the first quarter and 27-15 at halftime.

Siloam Springs increased its lead to 45-23 entering the fourth quarter after outscoring Greenwood 18-8 in the third quarter.

Murphy Perkins led a balanced scoring effort for the Panthers with 12 points, while Evan Sauer had 10. Drew Vachon scored all nine of his points int he first half, while Jordan Stewart had eight, Jacob Wakefield and Karson Clement each had six, Max Perkins three and Thad Wright two.

Jack Gaston led Greenwood with 12 points.

Siloam Springs completed the season of Greenwood, having defeated the Bulldogs 52-34 on Jan. 15 in Siloam Springs.

Sports on 02/17/2019