Basketball: Greenwood ends Siloam Springs' season

SILOAM SPRINGS -- Siloam Springs beat Greenwood three times during the regular season, but the Panthers couldn't do it a fourth time Tuesday night in the game that mattered the most.

Zane Harmon scored 26 of his game-high 35 points in the second half and the Bulldogs clinched a berth in next week's Class 6A state tournament with a 63-52 victory over Siloam Springs in a 6A-West Conference Tournament game at the Panther Activity Center.

6A-West Conference Tournament

Boys

Greenwood 63, Siloam Springs 52

Greenwood^13^9^18^23^—^63

Siloam Springs^10^5^12^25^—^52

Greenwood (7-21): Harmon 35, Sheppard 10, Stewart 8, Armstong 4, Holt 2, Tecter 2, Barrett 2.

Siloam Springs (10-19): Jones 16, Karp 11, Kretzer 10, Hunt 9, Garst 3, Lashley 2, Perkins 1.

The loss ends the Panthers' season at 10-19 overall. Three of the Panthers' wins this season came at Greenwood's expense, including a 40-39 win at Greenwood on Feb. 14 when Noah Karp banked in a 3-pointer. The other two wins came in Siloam Springs with the Panthers winning 61-47 in the seventh-place game of the Siloam Springs Holiday Classic on Dec. 30 and 57-48 on Jan. 20.

Greenwood coach Greg Nichols, a longtime coaching veteran in Oklahoma and now in his second season as at Greenwood, said the previous matchups might have been a motivation for his kids.

"But to me the motivation was getting this team to the state tournament, and that's what we were able to do tonight," Nichols said.

"We just came out tonight with more confidence. We've been lacking confidence in some of our games lately. We came out tonight with a lot of confidence and were able to do some things I knew we were capable of doing."

Greenwood (7-21) came out the aggressors and turned a 13-13 tie in the second quarter into a 22-15 lead at halftime.

Harmon converted a pair of three-point plays to open the third quarter and finished with 11 in the period as the Bulldogs opened up a 17-point lead.

Siloam Springs cut it to 40-27 entering the fourth but couldn't get any closer than 11.

Harmon scored 15 of his points in the fourth quarter, meanwhile the Panthers went 4 of 21 from behind the 3-point line on the night.

"They had a little better energy than we did, and we missed some shots that we've been able to make this year," Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart said. "It was kind of the perfect storm to start the game and give Greenwood credit. Coach (Nichols) had a good game plan. They hit free throws and made shots and we just couldn't ever get over the hump. It wasn't for a lack of trying. Our kids gave great effort. At the end of the day, their game plan worked perfect when we weren't able to hit the shots that we normally do. Give a lot of credit to Greenwood."

Jordan Sheppard added 10 points for Greenwood, which advances to Saturday's fifth-place game of the conference tournament against the winner of Tuesday's elimination game of Russellville at Sheridan. The winner of Saturday's game will be the fifth seed from the 6A-West, while the loser will be the sixth seed.

Charlie Jones led the Panthers with 16 points, while Noah Karp had 11 and Harrison Kretzer 10.

Girls

Benton 41, Siloam Springs 40

Siloam Springs rallied from a 15-point second half deficit and pulled within 41-40, but couldn't get off a shot to win it as Benton punched its ticket to the state tournament.

Siloam Springs' season ends at 5-24.

5A-West Tournament

At Greenbrier

Girls

Farmington 61, Greenbrier 21

The Lady Cardinals exploded for 24 first-quarter points and cruised to a 40-point win over the host Lady Panthers in the opening round of the 5A-West District Tournament on Tuesday.

Kaylee Brown led a balanced Farmington attack with 13 points. Makenna Vanzant added 12. Nine different players scored for the Lady Cards.

Farmington will take on Alma at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday in the semifinals.

In the boys game, the host Panthers ended Farmington's season with a 68-46 win.

CLARKSVILLE 40, MORRILTON 32

Clarksville built a 21-13 halftime lead and matched Morrilton point for point in the second half to advance in the 5A-West Conference tournament. Grace Dougan had 14 points and Sam Childers added nine for the Lady Panthers (18-10), who led 25-19 entering the fourth quarter. Clarksville will face Harrison in a semifinal game at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

Sports on 02/22/2017

Upcoming Events