BENTONVILLE -- Asa Hutchinson had the hot hand early for Bentonville Saturday night. Malik Monk then carried the load for the Tigers in the second half.
Hutchinson scored 18 points in the first half after hitting six 3-pointers, and Monk scored 13 of his game-high 22 points in the second half as Bentonville defeated Rogers High 67-43 in a 7A-West Conference game.
7A-West Conference
Boys
Bentonville 67, Rogers High 43
Rogers^3^12^16^12^—^43
Bentonville^15^23^15^14^—^67
Rogers (7-11, 1-4): Freeland 11, Heffley 10, Cooper 9, Allen 8, Young 2, Davis 2, Benninghoff 1.
Bentonville (12-6, 4-1): Monk 22, Hutchinson 18, Robinson 16, Akbar 8, Hornsby 2, Jackson 1.
Hutchinson was 6 of 8 from 3-point range in the first half as the Tigers opened up a 23-point halftime lead. Tyler Robinson was also in double figures for Bentonville with 16 points. Bentonville hit nine 3-pointers in the game with Monk adding the other three to the total.
"Hutchinson was hot and that helped create that separation," said Bentonville coach Jason McMahan said. "I feel that is the player Hutchinson has been the last few weeks. I look for him to play that way the rest of the year.
"Monk got it going in the second half. He realized that Asa had it in the first half and he distributed it to him. In the second half, Malik realized the gaps were open for him to get to the rim."
Hutchinson's first 3-pointer of the game gave Bentonville a 7-0 lead and his second pushed the lead to 15-3 at the end of the first quarter. Hutchinson opened the second quarter with another 3-pointer for a 18-5 lead, then he hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 30-9 lead 2 minutes, 10 seconds before halftime.
"You spend so much time preparing for Malik that you leave yourself open to other guys," said Rogers coach Wayne Herren.
Monk then closed out the first half with a steal and dunk and a 3-pointer as Bentonville led 38-15 at halftime, shooting 15 of 28 shooting from the floor. Rogers was 5 of 18 from the floor in the first half, including 1 of 8 in the first quarter.
Monk scored 10 points in the third quarter as the Tigers took a 53-31 lead to the fourth quarter.
Milacio Freeland led Rogers with 11 points while Harrison Heffley added 10 points for the Mounties.
"Real proud of our guys in the second half," Herren said. "They really fought until we removed them there at the end."
Sports on 01/24/2016