HOT SPRINGS -- North Little Rock returned to Bank of the Ozarks Arena in front of a sellout crowd of 6,500 and claimed another championship trophy.
The Charging Wildcats' 66-59 victory over Bentonville -- their third consecutive in a Class 7A boys championship game -- will enter the record books as their second title in three years, but the circumstances that stripped North Little Rock of its 2014 championship five weeks ago did nothing to diminish Saturday's accomplishment in the eyes of Coach Johnny Rice.
"This is a storybook ending," said Rice, who has been North Little Rock's head coach since the 2012-2013 season. "This is what people dream, make movies of and write books about. For our group of kids to keep fighting, it's the greatest example of teamwork and camaraderie.
"There's no better example of that than over the last month."
North Little Rock beat Fayetteville in the 2013 final and Springdale in 2014 final on the court, but the 2014 title was forfeited last month because of a recruiting violation that North Little Rock self-reported to the Arkansas Activities Association.
North Little Rock forfeited at least 24 victories from the 2013-2014 season and the state title, as well as 10 victories by the school's football team in 2013. The AAA has accepted the school's self-report and has no plans to overturn it.
But North Little Rock was able to put its disappointment aside, with its last loss coming Feb. 13 at home to Class 6A Jonesboro.
North Little Rock senior guard KeVaughn Allen was cast in the lead role Saturday for his final high school basketball game, and he delivered. Allen finished with 28 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists to earn the game's MVP award.
Rice said Allen's leadership was crucial for the Charging Wildcats (25-5).
"I've seen three years of it," Rice said. "His play bleeds over into his teammates. It's the calmness he has. His emotions don't change. He could dunk it, hit a three, turn the ball over, be up 10, down 10, and it don't change. That stuff is contagious with our kids."
It was a matchup between two of the top high school basketball players in Arkansas in Allen and Bentonville junior guard Malik Monk. Allen has orally committed to Florida, while Monk has received scholarship offers from Arkansas, Kentucky, Connecticut, Kansas, North Carolina and others. Florida assistant coach John Pelphrey, who coached at Arkansas in 2007-2011, was on hand Saturday to watch Allen.
Allen said the performance was one he will remember.
"This game was the best game of my career," Allen said. "I didn't want to leave high school with a loss."
Monk had 25 points and nine rebounds for Bentonville, which was playing in its first state championship game.
"I thought he played really good," Bentonville Coach Jason McMahan said. "He's a great player, and he's always going to score. He competed."
Rice said he had a difficult time sleeping this week because he was trying to prepare his team to defend Monk, who has averaged more than 27 points per game this season. The Charging Wildcats stopped Monk down the stretch thanks to a strong defensive effort by junior guard Adrian Moore and senior guard Kambrion Dickerson.
"I thought we did as good of a job as we could do with him, but he has a very good supporting cast," Rice said. "They were better than advertised."
Senior guard K.J. Hill scored 19 points on 6-of-16 shooting for North Little Rock. Moore added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Charging Wildcats shot 45.1 percent (23 of 51) from the floor and made 7 of 17 from behind the three-point line. They finished 13 of 18 at the free-throw line and outrebounded the Tigers 34-32.
Bentonville (21-6) was 21 of 54 (38.9 percent) from the floor and made 10 of 26 three-pointers. Senior forward Ben Smith scored 22 points, including five three-pointers.
The game was tied at 57-57 with 3:29 left after Monk's layup, but it was all North Little Rock after that.
Moore's layup gave the Charging Wildcats a 59-57 lead with 2:30 to go. Monk missed a three-point attempt, and he fouled Allen with 1:16 to go. Allen made two free throws for a 61-57 advantage.
Bentonville missed two jumpers over the next 36 seconds and senior forward Daniel Head fouled Allen, who knocked down two more free throws to make it 63-57 with 37 seconds left.
Sophomore guard Aaron Estrada made two free throws with 32 seconds left to cut the lead to 63-59, but that was it for Bentonville. Hill's two free throws extended the lead to 65-59, and Monk missed two three-point attempts in a span of 18 seconds.
Junior guard Morris Talbert sealed the victory for North Little Rock, making one of two free throws.
"We just couldn't finish it with a crucial score or two there in the fourth quarter," McMahan said. "We couldn't quite get the basket we needed."
Bentonville, which trailed 27-23 after the first quarter, led 39-37 at halftime and Monk scored the first five points of the third quarter to give the Tigers their biggest lead, 44-37, at the 7:30 mark. Talbert's jumper cut the lead to 50-49, but Smith hit his fifth three-pointer to push Bentonville's lead to 53-49 before the end of the third quarter.
But North Little Rock's resiliency showed up again, just as it has ever since learning about its forfeiture earlier this season.
"We faced a lot of adversity," said Hill, who last month signed a national letter of intent to play football for Ohio State. "That's why we're here right now. It helped us a lot."
MVP
KEVAUGHN ALLEN,
NORTH LITTLE ROCK
North Little Rock senior guard KeVaughn Allen got the best of Bentonville junior guard Malik Monk on Saturday. Allen, who has orally committed to Florida, scored 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting and had 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists to lead the Charging Wildcats to the Class 7A state championship. He made four three-pointers and had two dunks in the first half that brought the sellout crowd of 6,500 at Bank of the Ozarks Arena to its feet.
AND ONES
North Little Rock was playing in its third consecutive Class 7A state championship game. The Charging Wildcats beat Fayetteville in 2013 and Springdale in 2014. The program’s 2014 title was forfeited by the school last month after it self-reported a recruiting violation to the Arkansas Activities Association. … Bentonville was playing in its first state championship game.
Quotable
“It’s a little payback. It felt good to leave high school beating Bentonville.”
North Little Rock senior guard K.J. Hill, who was on the school’s football team that lost to Bentonville in November in the semifinals of the state playoffs
Sports on 03/15/2015