SILOAM SPRINGS — If you look over the majority of high school basketball rosters, you’ll notice that, under position for each player, a lot of F’s and a lot of G’s (forwards and guards). You rarely see a P for post or a C for center. Even Van Buren’s 6-11 Mitchell Smith is listed as a forward.
The reason is there are really very few true post-up, own-the-paint kind of players.
But the Bryant Hornets ran into one on Friday night. Kyle Snavely, a 6-6, 220-pound senior post player for the Siloam Springs Panthers, hit them for 28 points and eight rebounds and the Panthers ended the Hornets’ eight-game winning streak with a convincing 70-58 victory.
Both teams are now 5-1 in the 7A/6A-Central Conference. Siloam improved to 14-5 and the Hornets dropped to 15-4. It was just the fourth time this season a team has been able to score 70 points against Bryant. The Hornets are 1-3 in those games. All three of the previous incidents were in December 2015, the last a 73-51 loss to Little Rock Fair in the annual Jammin’ for Jackets tournament. Since then, the Hornets had won nine of their last 10 games.
“Tough team,” said Bryant head coach Mike Abrahamson regarding the Panthers. “We didn’t have an answer for Snavely. He was awesome.
“They controlled the game,” he continued. “They did what they wanted to do and we weren’t able to do what we wanted to do. We couldn’t get them uncomfortable. We couldn’t get the pace like we wanted it. You have to credit them for that. They run their stuff really well on offense and, if they score, they’re able to get back and sit in their zone. And their zone’s really good. They pack it in and make you shoot it well. If we’re not shooting it well, that’s a bad recipe for us. And we were fouling them like crazy.”
The Hornets had three players with two fouls by halftime, 11 team fouls to the Panthers’ four. It took a while for the Bryant players to realize that the game is called a little tighter in northwest Arkansas than what they’re used to in the central part of the state.
Offensively, the Hornets wound up shooting 40 percent from the field and just 7 of 14 at the free-throw line, both below their usual numbers. In the past when they have struggled with their shooting, they’ve made up for it by creating more opportunities with their rebounding and forcing turnovers. Though they forced the Panthers into 20 turnovers, they got out-rebounded 41-22.
Siloam Springs didn’t shoot particularly well in the first quarter but, after that, they connected at a 65-percent clip. The Panthers also converted 21 of 25 free throws.
The Hornets were coming off an emotional huge victory over Conway on Tuesday and had made the four-hour trip but Abrahamson wouldn’t blame those factors.
“Siloam Springs is just a very good team and they out-played us tonight,” he emphasized. “Just give them the credit.”
The best thing about it is probably that the Hornets won’t have to make that trip again. The two teams will not be in the same conference next year.
Romen Martin led Bryant with 19 points including four 3’s. Kevin Hunt added 12 off the bench before coming out of the game in the fourth quarter with an aching back. No one else had more than 5 points for the Hornets.
Snavely’s big night was augmented by Jordan Norberg’s 11 points and 9 from Tyler Newton.
The game was tight most of the way. Martin hit a 3 to open the scoring in the game. The game would be tied at 5, 7 and 9 in the first quarter. A free throw by Snavely with 3:19 left gave Siloam its first lead, 10-9.
Hunt answered with a bucket off the offensive glass and Bryant led 11-10 going into the second quarter.
The Panthers surged to an 18-14 lead in the second before Hunt canned a 12-footer then fed Detavious Moore for a 3. Kaleb Turner made a steal and scored putting the Hornets up 21-18 with 4:20 left in the half.
Snavely scored but Bryant’s Marvin Moody answered with Hunt again getting an assist. The Panthers, though, finished the half with a 8-2 run to take a 28-25 lead at intermission.
It was 32-27 early in the third quarter before Martin drained another triple. Snavely answered off the glass but Calvin Allen was fouled on a 3-point try. He made two of the three free throws to trim the margin to 2.
Hunt made a steal and fed Allen for a layup and it was tied at 34. Snavely and Moody traded baskets but the Panthers ended the period with a 9-2 push that had them up 45-38 going into the final period.
Snavely scored 15 of his points in the third quarter in which the Panthers scored 17.
Allen made a steal to start the final period. Braylon Steen cashed in. Siloam’s Noah Karp traded 3’s with Martin then the Panthers started to gradually pull away. When Kyle Comiskey hit a 3 with 4:43 left, it gave the Panthers a double-digit lead and it was never less than that the rest of the game.
The Hornets will try to get another winning streak started on Tuesday when they host Alma in a make-up game.
PANTHERS 70, HORNETS 58
Score by quarters
BRYANT 11 14 13 20 — 58
Siloam Springs. 10. 18. 17. 25 — 70
HORNETS (15-4, 5-1, 3-0) 58
C.Allen 1-9 2-3 4, Martin 6-15 3-4 19, Moody 2-6 0-0 4, Steen 2-5 0-0 4, Washington 2-2 1-4 5, Hunt 6-12 0-0 12, Sahr 0-0 0-0 0, Cowart 0-1 0-0 0, Turner 2-2 1-3 5, Moore 2-4 0-0 5, McIntosh 0-2 0-0 0, R.Allen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-58 (40%) 7-14 (50%) 58.
PANTHERS (14-5, 5-1, 3-0) 70
Newton 2-3 4-4 9, Norberg 2-4 7-8 11, Comiskey 1-8 0-0 3, Wakefield 1-4 2-4 4, Snavely 11-12 6-7 28, Karp 3-7 0-0 7, Lampton 3-5 0-0 6, McSpadden 0-0 0-0 0, Vazquez 0-1 0-0 0, J.Hunt 0-0 2-2 2, Efurd 0-0 0-0 0, Rush 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-45 (51%) 21-25 (88%) 70.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 5-23 (Martin 4-12, Moore 1-3, C.Allen 0-4, Hunt 0-2, Cowart 0-1, McIntosh 0-1), Siloam Springs 3-11 (Comiskey 1-4, Karp 1-2, Newton 1-1, Wakefield 0-2, Lampton 0-2). Turnovers: Bryant 11, Siloam Springs 20. Rebounds: Bryant 11-11 22 (Moody 3-2 5, Washington 1-4 5, Hunt 2-2 4, Steen 2-1 3, C.Allen 1-0 1, Martin 0-1 1, Moore 0-1 1, McIntosh 1-0 1, team 1-0 1), Siloam Springs 12-29 41 (Snavely 3-5 8, Wakefield 2-4 6, Karp 2-4 6, Newton 1-4 5, Comiskey 1-4 5, Lampton 1-2 3, Norberg 0-2 2, Vazquez 1-0 1, J.Hunt 0-1 1, Rush 0-1 1, team 1-2 3). Team fouls: Bryant 22, Siloam Springs 14.
