Allen delivers again for NLR

— Top-ranked North Little Rock needed someone to take charge Saturday night.

Sophomore KeVaughn Allen filled the Charging Wildcats’ needs.

Allen connected on 12 of 16 field-goal attempts on his way to a 30-point effort in North Little Rock’s 86-69 victory over West Memphis in the Class 7A state tournament.

It was a much closer game than the final score indicated. The Blue Devils, who had lost to the Charging Wildcats (27-1) by 40 and 16 points during the regular season, trailed 37-33 at the half and by only one early in the third quarter.

“West Memphis takes it right after you and they are relentless with it,” North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice said. “We want the game to be up-and-down. That’s to our advantage, but they beat us down the floor a lot of times.”

Enter Allen, who started North Little Rock’s scoring frenzy with back-to-back dunks and a layup that pushed the Charging Wildcats’ lead to seven.

“KeVaughn attacked the rack better than I’ve ever seen him do,” said North Little Rock senior guard DayShawn Watkins, who had 23 points and five steals. “Instead of settling for jump shots, he was going to the basket.”

Allen scored 13 of his points in the game’s final 6:30.

West Memphis rode the effort of 6-2 senior Robert Bradford, who scored 27 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. But after North Little Rock pushed its lead to 58-47 to start the final quarter, the Blue Devils never got any closer than six, 64-58 with 5:15 to play.

Sports, Pages 32 on 03/03/2013

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