ROGERS — Rogers Heritage gave Siloam Springs all it wanted in Friday’s final 7A/6A-West Conference game.
But the Panthers had Payton Henson, and the War Eagles simply had no way to stop him.
Henson had a monster game with 44 points and 10 rebounds as the Panthers held off a scrappy Heritage effort for a 65-53 win on Senior Night at War Eagle Arena.
Henson tied the Siloam Springs single-game scoring record of 44 points set by Coleson Rakestraw on Feb. 17, 2009 in a 61-36 win against Harrison.
Henson had 25 points heading into the fourth quarter and exploded for 19 points in the final period.
Henson, who surpassed Rakestraw as Siloam Springs’ leading scorer in December, said he didn’t intend to rewrite the Panthers’ record book on Friday.
“I just wanted to come in here and get a win, finish off conference with a win and go into state feeling good,” Henson said. “If it happens, it happens. That’s great. My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball where I needed to get it.”
As Henson approached the record, an error on the scoreboard showed Henson with two more points than he actually had. As a result, Siloam Springs’ coaches removed him from the game, thinking he had the record.
Either way, Panthers coach Tim Stewart said it was fun to see the players and fans rooting Henson along.
“The end of the season, to come out and see the team really pulling for him, they knew it before I knew it,” Stewart said. “The kids pulled together for a common goal. That’s what we’ve got to have to shock the world and win four more games.”
After playing 14 conference games against Class 7A competition, Siloam Springs (19-6, 9-5) will now move on to the Class 6A State Tournament, where the Panthers will be the No. 2 seed and play Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. against either Russellville or Searcy.
They had already wrapped up the second seed heading into the game.
“We talked about playing for pride and finishing strong and have that momentum going into the playoffs,” Stewart said. “Rogers Heritage played well and hit a lot of big shots tonight. It’s a game that we could have easily lost if the kids took it for granted.”
Reece Goddard added 14 points for Siloam Springs and sank four 3-pointers.
The War Eagles trailed 26-25 at halftime before Siloam Springs opened up a 10-point lead in the third quarter. Heritage cut it down to six with 2:37 remaining on a 3-pointer from Xavier Thomas. Henson scored the Panthers’ next eight points to finish off the War Eagles (9-18, 0-14).
Wyatt Kinnamon led Heritage with 13 points.
“They’ve hung in there all year,” Heritage coach Tom Olsen. “Obviously we’ve had a long season. We’ve had a tough year, but they played their guts out.”
SILOAM SPRINGS 65, ROGERS HERITAGE 53
Siloam Springs 11 15 15 24 — 65
Rogers Heritage 11 14 11 17 — 53
Siloam Springs (19-6, 9-5): Payton Henson 44, Reece Goddard 14, Austin Comiskey 3, Raul Leyva 2, Austin Van Poucke 2.
Rogers Heritage (9-18, 0-14): Wyatt Kinnamon 13, Xavier Thomas 9, Jacob Robbins 9, Hayden Greenway 7, Deion Jones 6, Crist Olsen 5, Luke Fryauf 4.