Henson’s Big Night Keys Panthers’ Win

Siloam Springs Redeems Disappointing Loss

— There was no way Payton Henson was going to let Siloam Springs have a repeat performance against Van Buren.

Playing without second leading scorer Dylan Gray, Henson put the Panthers on his back Tuesday and scored 31 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in the Panthers’ 54-36 win against Van Buren in his final game at Panther Activity Center.

“Payton kind of willed us to a victory,” said Siloam Springs coach Tim Stewart. “There were stretches where we didn’t take the best shots, but our energy picked up and we started making plays. It was his last time to play here, and he wasn’t going to let us lose.”

Siloam Springs (18-6, 8-57A/6A-West) got a little payback after a disappointing 61-52 loss to the Pointers on Jan. 22. In that game, Henson scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, but he went 3 of 14 from the floor.

On Tuesday, he was 9 of 20 from the floor. Henson scored all 17 of Siloam Springs’ points in the second quarter, including a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give Siloam Springs a 29-16 lead at intermission.

“That’s the kind of player he is,” said Van Buren coach Randy Loyd. “For some reason, for him to go 3 for 14 at our place, we knew he wouldn’t do that again here, and he didn’t of course. He played really well.”

The Van Buren defense left Panthers senior Austin Comiskey wide open on the perimeter and he responded with three 3-pointers and a season-high 11 points. Comiskey hit a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter as Siloam Springs attacked Van Buren’s sagging man defense that gave the Panthers so much trouble in the first meeting.

“We had a couple of different ways we wanted to attack it,” Stewart said. “One being Austin shooting the ball freely, and I was really proud of him.”

Van Buren (13-12, 7-6) got the Panthers’ lead down to nine points with 36.4 seconds left in the third. However two free throws from Raul Leyva got the lead back up to 11 going into the fourth.

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Van Buren 10 6 14 6 — 36 Siloam Springs 12 17 12 13 — 54

VAN BUREN (13-12, 6-7): Pagel 11, Pearson 6, Ray 6, Smith 5, Tucker 4, Gardner 3, Harms 1. SILOAM SPRINGS (18-6, 8-5): Henson 31, Comiskey 11, Leyva 3, Van Poucke 3, Seliga 2, Goddard 2, Woodworth 2.

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