Forfeiture motivates Rice, NLR

Johnny Rice's office is normally decorated with reminders of the recent success of his North Little Rock boys basketball team.

Directly across from his desk inside North Little Rock's gym hangs a banner given to his team in March after it defeated Bentonville in the Class 7A state championship game. On other walls are pictures of KeVaughn Allen and K.J. Hill, the catalysts who led the Charging Wildcats to this year's state title, their third victory in the state final in as many years.

On a recent morning, though, there was yet another sign of North Little Rock's on-court dominance. This one came in the form of a man finalizing with Rice the designs, sizes and prices of the players' state championship rings that will commemorate their latest title.

It's a title that Rice looks back on with a bit more reverence than the others.

"Part of me says this one this year is more special than any of them," he said. "Just for all of what we overcame during the year."

The obstacles weren't expected when the year began with the team coming off a second consecutive state championship.

Led by Allen, who signed to play at Florida, and Hill, who will play football at Ohio State, North Little Rock opened the season as a Class 7A favorite. The Charging Wildcats cruised through the first two months of the season and performed well in weekend tournaments in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Washington, D.C.

Following an 86-55 victory over Little Rock Central on Jan. 31, the Charging Wildcats were 15-5.

Then, five days later, Rice and his team learned that the school had voluntarily forfeited 24 basketball victories from the previous season and the 2014 Class 7A state championship, along with 10 football victories, saying the school had used an ineligible player.

Rice said his initial reaction was shock -- "I couldn't believe this happened," he said -- but then he decided it would become a source of motivation. He wanted to prove that the sizable bump in the middle of the season wouldn't derail this team.

"We were going to use this as a chip on our shoulder," Rice said. "Us against the world. Let's go get it."

That didn't last long.

North Little Rock forfeited its title Feb. 5, a Thursday, and the next night it hosted Cabot. The Panthers led by 13 points in the second half, but Allen's 31 points helped North Little Rock rally for a 68-61 victory.

"I learned pretty quick that rally cry, it all sounds good," Rice said. "I've seen teams use that, but that stuff lasts about two or three minutes in a game."

After that lesson, Rice went back to what had worked all season. There was no more mention of the forfeited title, or what some felt like was an accomplishment taken away unjustly. Instead, he coached like no off-court challenges had surfaced and let his team rely on its best players -- Allen, Hill and Sam Dunkum.

North Little Rock went 6-1 over the final three weeks of the regular season, with its only blemish coming Feb. 13 in a 63-57 home loss to Jonesboro. The Charging Wildcats won their final four games and took a bye into the quarterfinals of the state tournament at Springdale.

They traveled three hours to beat Springdale Har-Ber on its home floor 62-53, and Allen's two free throws with 5.8 seconds left beat Fayetteville 66-65 in the semifinals to set up a championship game matchup against Bentonville.

Rice said he drove past Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs the morning of the championship game and saw about 200 people standing in line waiting to see the highly anticipated matchup that pitted Allen and Hill against Bentonville's Malik Monk, one of the top basketball recruits in the nation who was named the All-Arkansas Preps boys basketball player of the year.

The announced crowd of 6,500 -- an arena record -- watched the Charging Wildcats beat the Tigers 66-59 and hoist a state championship trophy for a third consecutive March.

"I always tell people how much of a storybook ending it was," Rice said. "It really was. You couldn't put it down on paper to end it any other way than like that."

While Rice, a North Little Rock graduate and former assistant coach, said he'll remember this title differently, he won't disregard the 2014 team that had to give up its trophy. The banner given to that team after the championship game victory still hangs in North Little Rock's gym, and Rice said he'll always consider them state champions.

"We three-peated," Rice said. "We won it. They've got the trophy right now, but I look at it as we won it on the floor with legal players, in my eyes. I think someday it can get looked at again. I really do."

Sports on 06/21/2015