FAYETTEVILLE -- Fayetteville capped off its best week of basketball with its finest win of the year Friday.
Faced with the task of slowing Malik Monk and Bentonville, the Bulldogs locked down on defense in the second half and held on in a furious finish to knock off the Tigers, 54-50, at Bulldog Arena. The Senior Night victory, which gave Fayetteville its third win in the last four games, moved the Bulldogs ahead of Rogers Heritage for the No. 5 seed at the Class 7A State Tournament.
How They Scored
Boys
Fayetteville 54, Bentonville 50
Bentonville^13^7^10^20^—^50
Fayetteville^7^9^19^19^—^54
Bentonville (18-5, 12-2): Caudle 13, Monk 11, Dixon 11, Bachman 6, Smith 5, Head 2, Carter 2.
Fayetteville (14-13, 7-7): Willis 20, O’Grady 13, Renner 7, Adams 6, Young 4, Murphy 2, Mathews 2.
Meanwhile, Bentonville (18-5, 12-2 7A/6A-West) still earned a share of the 7A/6A-West Conference crown, but dropped to a No. 2 seed behind Springdale High for the state tournament with the loss.
"The No. 1 thing was Fayetteville's defense," Bentonville coach Jason McMahan said. "The reason we were so out of rhythm was because of how well they defended us."
The Bulldogs (14-13, 7-7) trailed 13-7 after one quarter and looked to be in trouble. But both teams then spent the second quarter in foul trouble as Fayetteville sent three starters to the bench with two fouls.
Monk also picked up his third foul for Bentonville, allowing Fayetteville to hang within 20-16 at the intermission.
"The fouls really affected us both," Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams said. "I had three of my guys with me on the bench and we just had to find a way to get through it."
Monk then picked up an early foul in the third quarter, and Bentonville never could quite recover as he again spent a lengthy time sitting in foul trouble. Fayetteville would increase it's lead to 10 points early in the fourth quarter, sparked by the play of Payton Willis and C.J. O'Grady who combined for 33 points.
"O'Grady was the player of the game," McMahan said. "He just dominated us and we didn't have an answer for him."
Bentonville did rally strong in the closing minutes, even getting a late 3-pointer from Monk to pull within two points. But free throws by Willis and O'Grady helped keep the Tigers at bay.
"I'm just so proud of these seniors," Adams said. "I think all of them got in the game tonight and they all contributed. And this was just a total team win."
Willis finished with 20 points and O'Grady added 13 for Fayetteville. Monk finished with just 11 for the Tigers on 1 of 11 shooting from 3-point range.
Sports on 03/01/2014