GREENWOOD — Siloam Springs knew it would have to get off to a nearly perfect start to stay with Little Rock Parkview in Friday’s Class 6A quarterfinals.
Instead the Panthers got the opposite.
LR PARKVIEW 62, SILOAM SPRINGS 34
LR Parkview 21 20 17 4 — 62
Siloam Springs 5 11 12 6 — 34
LR Parkview (20-3): Daryl Macon 16, I.J. Ready 12, Kasey Burnam 9, Ryan Pippins 8, Jaylen Franklin 7, Anton Beard 5, Charles Washington 3, Andre Jones 2.
Siloam Springs (20-7): Payton Henson 20, Reece Goddard 9, Dylan Gray 2, Raul Leyva 1, Austin Van Poucke 1, Nick Seliga 1.
All-state forward Payton Henson picked up three offensive fouls less than five minutes into the game, Siloam Springs head coach Tim Stewart picked up a technical and the Patriots picked up points in bunches, rolling to a 62-34 mercy-rule win at H.B. Stewart Bulldog Arena.
“Parkview’s a team that if you find yourself in a hole, one way or the other, you’re in trouble,” Stewart said. “Everybody knows what Parkview brings to the table. We had to have the game start a certain way, and it didn’t. Some of that is our fault, and some of that is out of our hands.”
With Henson limited because of the fouls, Parkview attacked Siloam Springs’ zone defense and pulled ahead 21-2 in the first quarter.
Henson came alive offensively in the second quarter and scored 11 points in the period, but Parkview (20-3) didn’t blink and led 41-16 at halftime, powered by 14 first half points from Daryl Macon.
The Panthers opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run and closed to within 41-25. Henson opened the third with a jumper and Reece Goddard followed with a 3-pointer. Henson converted a 3-point play and then knocked down two free throws to bring the Panthers within 15.
“What I’m proud of is our kids,” Stewart said. “We challenged them to battle and to keep fighting, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more coming out of halftime.”
Unfortunately for Siloam Springs, Henson then picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench. Austin Comiskey also left the game with his fourth foul in the quarter, leaving the Panthers without their primary ballhandler, and the Patriots capitalized with a flurry of turnovers and a 17-2 run.
“We were focused on having defensive pressure the whole game,” said Parkview coach Al Flanigan.
Parkview’s Jaylen Franklin scored at the third quarter buzzer on a putback of a missed Macon trey to make it 58-28 and give the Patriots a running clock in the fourth.
Henson fouled out in the fourth quarter as did Comiskey.
Henson had a game-high 20 points for Siloam Springs and finished his four-year career with 2,239 points. Henson, who signed with Tulane, scored all of his points in the second and third quarter.
Flanigan was impressed with Henson’s effort.
“Our game plan didn’t work (on Henson),” Flanigan said. “He’s a good player. We tried to front him. We tried to double team him on the pass. Nothing we tried worked on him. He’s got a good head on him. He capitalized on our mistakes.”
Parkview will now play city rival Little Rock Hall in the semifinals today at 1:30 p.m. Hall (24-5), which won the 7A/6A-Central regular season title, beat Parkview both times during the regular season.
“We’ve got our No. 1 nemesis now,” Flanigan said. “They’ve beat us twice. Hopefully we won’t let them do it again.”