A chase that began in a practice gym in 2015 will spill into the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday, when the University of Arkansas at Little Rock men's basketball team hosts Arkansas State University.
Marquis Eaton has caught up with Ryan Pippins again.
Eaton, a freshman guard for the Red Wolves, was always a year behind. The Helena-West Helena native remembers how his AAU team -- the Arkansas Wings -- would scrimmage the older age group and its bevy of future collegiate players: Malik Monk (Kentucky), Payton Willis (Vanderbilt), Eric Curry (Minnesota), Tyrik Dixon (Middle Tennessee State) and Pippins (UALR).
Eaton said his and Pippins' AAU teams would "go back and forth" every day. That back and forth carried into the high school season, when Eaton's family moved to Jonesboro just before his junior year.
Both players were named to the Class 6A All-State team in 2016, and Eaton still remembers when Pippins' Little Rock Parkview team beat Jonesboro 69-57 in the Class 6A state semifinals. "They beat us by 12," Eaton recalled solemnly, but correctly.
Parkview went on to win the state championship, and Pippins left for UALR.
Eaton would never lose again at Jonesboro, as the Hurricane went 32-0 in its 2016-17 state championship season that included a 67-47 victory over Parkview.
"We killed Parkview by like 20," Eaton recalled, correct again.
While that revenge game squashed some of the ill feelings from the previous state semifinal, it was played without Pippins, who was then a freshman at UALR.
Now, the two former champions will meet again for bragging rights between the two in-state Sun Belt rivals.
It's the sort of history that fuels the rivalry between the Trojans (5-14, 2-4 Sun Belt Conference) and Red Wolves (6-13, 1-5), which dates back to the 1927-28 season when ASU first beat UALR 36-22.
The Red Wolves lead the series 52-33.
UALR second-year Coach Wes Flanigan has also yet to beat ASU, which now has first-year Coach Mike Balado.
Both coaches said they were more focused on the game's implications on the conference standings, but Flanigan admitted that "in the back of my mind, obviously, I want to try and get my first win over Arkansas State," and Balado said "it's a special deal for two teams to try and win the state."
He would know.
"I just came from the best college basketball rivalry in the world," said Balado, who was an assistant coach at Louisville for four seasons while the program went 1-4 against rival Kentucky. "And that was strictly for nonconference play. So, this [rivalry] means more."
UALR is ninth in the Sun Belt standings and ASU is 11th out of the conference's 12 teams. All teams make the Sun Belt's postseason tournament, since the conference expanded from an eight-team format before last season.
Neither Pippins or Eaton believe that Saturday' game can sway the mind of a recruit that's choosing between both schools.
Eaton, who had offers from both programs, said his decision had more to do with the "immediate role I would have." He also said it had nothing to do with whether he was already living in Jonesboro.
"It all depends on the person," said Eaton, who is averaging 5 points, 1.7 assists and 1.1 rebounds per game. "But I don't think [Saturday's] going to be a deciding factor."
Flanigan said he believes the game impacts a recruit's decision "a little bit," which would affect his personal goal of signing local players.
"Our [state's] talent level is probably as good as it's been in a while," Flanigan. "Last couple classes that's come out, we've gotten our share of guys to stay home. We will continue to do that. That's a priority of mine."
Sports on 01/19/2018