HOT SPRINGS -- North Little Rock senior KeVaughn Allen and Bentonville junior Malik Monk had a brief chat in Bank of the Ozarks Arena prior to the 7A state championship game.
The two top players in the state wanted to put on a show.
"Just joking around, talking about how we were going to dunk on each other and block each other's shots," Allen said.
The two delivered, putting on a show from the opening tip, much to the delight of a standing-room only, arena-record crowd of 6,500 fans. The stars put together a memorable opening eight minutes that left the sellout crowd on its feet and fans who couldn't find a seat dancing in the aisles.
Perhaps no sequence in the title game was more thrilling than a four-possession exchange midway through the first quarter.
Allen started the string of highlights by catching the ball on the right wing, rising and swishing a 3-pointer to extend an early North Little Rock lead. Not to be outdone, Monk beat a double team up the court and answered with an even deeper 3-pointer.
"I've laid in bed at night the last week, get up at 2 or 3, next thing I know I can't go back to sleep cause I'm figuring out, 'What are we going to do with Monk?'" North Little Rock coach Johnny Rice said.
On North Little Rock's next possession, after an offensive rebound, Allen responded with another 3-pointer of his own. Then he stole a pass in the backcourt and finished a vicious and-1 dunk through contact from Monk, bringing the crowd to its feet in unison.
The four highlight-reel plays were jammed into 1 minute, 8 seconds of action and left the arena buzzing. Allen provided three of them, all while keeping the same cool demeanor.
"His emotions don't change," Rice said. "He could dunk it, hit a 3, turn the ball over, be up 10, down 10, it don't change. And that stuff is contagious."
So was his hot shooting.
The teams combined for four dunks, eight 3-pointers and 64 percent shooting as North Little Rock led 27-23 after the first quarter. Allen scored 10 and Monk had eight in the opening quarter, but they weren't the only ones doing damage.
Bentonville senior forward Ben Smith made all four of his 3-pointers and had an authoritative and-1 dunk late in the quarter, scoring a game-best 15 points in the first to keep the Tigers close despite North Little Rock's fast start.
"I just tried to come out and execute my role to the best of my ability, whether I was hitting shots or getting rebounds," Smith said. "So in that quarter, it happened that my shot was falling."
For the Wildcats, senior K.J. Hill scored 10 of his 19 in the opening quarter, adding several highlight plays of his own.
"We played with emotion," Hill said. "That carried us to a point. But we just kept going. Coach said it's not going to last forever. So we just had to come play basketball."
And they did. Well. North Little Rock trailed 44-37 early in the third quarter, but outscored Bentonville 29-15 the rest of the way with Allen leading the charge.
He scored 18 of his game-high 28 points in the second half to bring the Wildcats back, including 10 of North Little Rock's final 17 points to best Bentonville and Monk, who finished with 25.
"Coming out to the crowd, I think this game was the best game of my career," Allen said. "Senior year, going out with a win. I just don't want to leave high school. Just stay here."
He, Monk and the rest left everyone in the Bank of the Ozarks Arena with plenty of memories Saturday.
Reach Jimmy Carter at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAJimmy.
Sports on 03/15/2015