SILOAM SPRINGS -- Fayetteville junior C.J. Williams knocked down big shot after big shot Tuesday night to lead the Bulldogs to a 80-76 victory over Siloam Springs at Panther Activity Center.
Williams canned six three-pointers, including a trey to give Fayetteville the lead for good in overtime, and finished with 24 points.
Williams missed the front end of two 1-and-1s in the final minute and Siloam Springs capitalized to tie the game at 68 at the end of regulation.
But he bounced back in the extra period.
"He missed both ends of the front of the 1-and-1 or we win in regulation," said Bulldogs coach Brad Stamps. "But toughness, you come back and make a shot in overtime and we battled. We can't fault the kids' efforts. We weren't as smart as we should have been or could have been. But you move on to the next one and get ready for the next one."
Matt Wayman scored inside to give Fayetteville a 70-68 lead to open the extra period, but Josh Stewart hit a pair of free throws tie it back up.
Williams knocked down a three-pointer on the wing for a 73-70 lead and the Bulldogs wouldn't trail again.
Landon Ward answered with a jumper, but Kaiden Turner scored on a putback for Fayetteville as the Bulldogs went back up 75-72.
Fayetteville drew an offensive foul on the other end and Williams hit a long jump shot for a 77-72 lead. Sawyer Keith hit two free throws for a 79-72 lead with 35.3 seconds left to seal the win.
Keith added 22 points for the Bulldogs (6-2), while Landon Glasper added 13. The Bulldogs knew they were in for a battle on the road, Stamps said.
"I give credit completely to Tim Stewart, Siloam and their kids. We talked about that coming here," Stamps said. "It's one of those things where we knew we were going to get their best shot. We know the resilience of their kids. We've watched them on film, and I've got a lot of respect for Tim over the years. His teams always play hard, and they're tough to (prepare) for when you don't have a lot of scout time, because they're different. You don't see the 3-2 zone much. Some of their shuffle offense. some things we don't see. So you play teams like that, if you're not scouted up or paying attention to detail, things like that can happen. But I'm proud of my kids for finding a way to win."
Ward led Siloam Springs (3-5) with 24 points, while Josh Stewart had 23, including two free throws with 17.7 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. Jackson Ford added 13 points for the Panthers.
"Fayetteville showed us great pressure at times and then really solid half court man-to-man defense that we're going to see in our conference all year long," said Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart. "We just appreciate our kids competing. We've had a couple of games where we didn't compete to the level we think we should. Tonight we kind of got back to the basics and we were just going to fight and compete. We were pleased to see that. We needed to make some more plays in overtime. We had some silly turnovers. But man kids laid it out there tonight and we're pleased with their effort."
Girls
Siloam Springs 72, Fort Smith Southside 28
Siloam Springs jumped out to an early lead and rolled to a mercy-rule win over the Lady Mavericks at Panther Arena.
The Lady Panthers led 24-8 after the first quarter and 42-20 at halftime. The Lady Panthers (6-1) led 57-26 going into the third period.
Mimo Jacklik and Mia Hevener each hit four three-pointers. Jacklik led the Lady Panthers with 14 points, while Hevener had 13 and Reina Tiefel 11. Iana Perry led Southside with nine points.