Huntsville had Siloam Springs' boys on the ropes, leading by 10 early in the fourth quarter and appearing comfortably in control. But sometimes looks can be deceiving.
Siloam Springs cranked up its intensity to another gear, things began to click and the Panthers rallied to turn a 10-point deficit into a 55-43 victory Friday inside Panther Activity Center.
"First of all, give Huntsville a lot of credit," said Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart. "They were much more physical and tougher than us for the first two-and-a-half quarters easily and were doing the little things right as far as blocking out and not turning the ball over, and then we had a couple of little plays there were the momentum changed."
Huntsville led 39-31 entering the fourth quarter and went up 41-31 on a jump shot by Kobe Ogden, the second time of the half the Eagles led by 10. But things turned around fast.
Dalton Newman scored on a putback of a missed shot to cut the lead to 41-33.
Nathan Hawbaker canned a 3-pointer to cut it to 41-36, and the Panthers forced a turnover which led to a Levi Fox three-point play in transition. Fox's free throw cut the lead to 41-39 with 5:28 remaining, and the Panthers tied it at 41 on a Newman bucket on their next possession.
Huntsville retook the lead briefly at 43-41 on a jumper by Troy Lambert, but the Eagles would not score again the remainder of the game. From there, it was all Siloam Springs.
Nate Vachon tied the game with a pair of free throws with 4:09 left, and Newman drew a charge on Huntsville's Mason Davidson on the other end, his fifth foul of the game.
Newman gave Siloam Springs the lead for good with a score inside, and Fox scored again for a 47-43 lead.
Vachon had a steal and score, a putback and a reverse layin and Hawbaker added a steal and score as Siloam Springs forced five Huntsville turnovers on the last six possessions.
"It was defensive adjustments," Stewart said. "Our top guys on the zone adjusted to how coach (Chris) Cameron was drawing it up. Something clicked finally and it really stymied them, and that was fun to see."
Siloam Springs did not play its traditional 3-2 zone against the Eagles after Huntsville shot up the 3-2 zone last year in a 59-52 Eagles win at Huntsville. Instead, the Panthers deployed a 2-3 look with the top of the zone pressuring the guards.
"For some reason Huntsville has always had our number on that three defense," Stewart said. "Their best two players are just snipers. We just didn't trust ourselves to do just our normal three. We wanted to pressure those guards.
"It's a a funky 2-3, but it is something to offset our three defense without going man to man."
The result was holding Huntsville well below its scoring average, which going in was near 70 points per game.
"First of all, credit to Siloam," said Huntsville coach River Gosvener. "Coach Stewart does a great job of having those guys ready to play. They made us uncomfortable all night. We were averaging almost 70 points a game so far this season and they held us to 43. That's credit to what Coach Stewart has done. They know how to slow us down. They know how to stop us. ... We don't see a lot of zone spread out like that, and Siloam's really the only ones that do it that effectively. And it makes it really tough on us because it's hard to emulate in practice."
Early on, Stewart wasn't thrilled about the Panthers' body language as they struggled to an 8-8 tie after the first quarter and fell behind 25-24 at halftime and 39-31 entering the fourth.
"Coach (Cameron) calls it, our DNA has to be a certain way," Stewart said. "Our culture, our DNA, we were taking shortcuts on defense. We weren't taking charges. We weren't being physical on rebounds. Then we were crying about fouls. I just wasn't going to let them get away with it."
An animated Stewart ripped into the Panthers as a whole during timeouts and individually with some of his players.
"We coached them a little harder than we have," he said. "In the moment it's heated, but it's always from a place of love and wanting to make kids better. Man the response from our guys was really good."
Newman led the Panthers with 20 points, while Hawbaker had 13 and Vachon and Fox each had 10. Stewart gave special credit to the senior Fox.
"If we give away game balls he probably gets it," Stewart said. "In that span in the fourth quarter, his hustle plays are what really sparked that. He may not have scored all the points, but his hustle sparked it."
Lambert led Huntsville with 12 points, while Davidson had 11.
The Panthers were back in action this week at the Jerry O'quin Invitational on Tuesday, Dec. 6, against Verdigris. Results were not available at presstime. Depending on Tuesday's result, the Panthers will play either Thursday or Friday and then complete tournament play on Saturday.
Siloam Springs 55, Huntsville 43
Huntsville^8^17^14^4^--^43
Siloam Springs^8^16^7^24^--^55
Huntsville (4-1): Lambert 12, Davidson 11, McCubbin 9, Odgen 7, Mayes 2, Box 2.
Siloam Springs (3-3): Newman 20, Hawbaker 13, Vachon 10, Fox 10, Spence 2.
Bentonville West 53, Siloam Springs 40
A fast start like Bentonville West's boys enjoyed Tuesday night can be a blessing, but it also can be a curse at times.
Tucker Anderson, however, made sure what the Wolverines manufactured early against Siloam Springs didn't go totally to waste.
The 6-8 senior finished with a team-high 17 points and helped kept Bentonville West unbeaten with a 53-40 nonconference victory at the Panther Activity Center.
Tucker Bowman hit 3 three-point shots, with his first one coming from well beyond the arc 10 seconds into the game, and his third one helped give the Wolverines (3-0) a 15-2 lead with less than 3 minutes gone.
"We hit a lot early," Bentonville West Coach Greg White said. "I was trying to draw the zone out and get them out of the zone because there's not a better coach of a zone defense than [Siloam Springs coach] Tim Stewart. We knew it was going to be hard."
But Bentonville West went cold from the perimeter for a while after that and that allowed Siloam Springs to keep things close. The Panthers pulled within 15-9 on Dalton Newman's three-pointer with 2:22 left in the first quarter and trailed 21-16 after Nate Vachon's three-pointer with 6:23 before halftime.
That's when Anderson, who went scoreless through the first quarter, found his groove. He had a pair of dunks and finished with nine points in the second quarter to help Bentonville West take a 32-19 halftime cushion.
"I think he took some tough shots early and forced a couple," White said of Anderson. "Then he settled down and got to a spot. When he gets to a spot, he's hard to guard. He's one of the toughest guys in the state to stop at 6-8 and with the ability like that."
Siloam Springs, however, never allowed the Wolverines to completely pull away. Newman, who finished with 18 points to lead the Panthers, closed out the third quarter with back-to-back buckets and made it 39-30 to start the fourth quarter.
The Panthers would pull within nine on two more occasions in the final 8 minutes, the last being 47-38 on Newman's bucket with 3:15 remaining. Bentonville West, however, would get three-pointers from Jaxson Brust and Zahir James to put the lead into double digits to stay.
"I'm proud of our kids for settling in and trusting the game plan and trusting what they've been taught," Stewart said. "Throughout the game, we had spurts where we won those spurts. I thought our kids battled. We battled and fell a little short, but we're headed in the right direction.
"Honestly, I told our team after the game I wished we could play them three more times because playing them will make you better."
Dawson Price finished with 10 points and was the only other player in double figures for Bentonville West.
Vachon added 10 for Siloam Springs.
-- Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sportswriter Henry Apple contributed to this report.