Fayetteville separates from Bentonville

FAYETTEVILLE — A jampacked, standing room only crowd at Bulldog Arena got the show they came to see Friday as Bentonville and Fayetteville delivered a 7A-West Conference boys’ basketball battle down to near the wire. For the Purple Bulldogs, a strong defensive stand to open the second half and just enough plays on both ends of the floor in the closing minute were the difference as Fayetteville outlasted Bentonville, 60-55, to remain unbeaten in conference play. “What we kind of talked about at halftime was (Bentonville) was the more aggressive and physical team in the first half,” Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams said. “Usually when that happens you get back on your heels and allow people to get to the rim and I thought we allowed Malik (Monk) to get wherever he wanted to go in the first half. And you can’t let a caliber player like him do whatever he wants and we did a better job of forcing him to pass in the second half.” Monk, a Kentucky signee, and Fayetteville senior guard Payton Willis — a Vanderbilt signee — defended one another most of the night. Monk finished with 30 points on 13 of 31 shooting from the floor, including a 13-point fourth quarter. But in the third quarter alone, Fayetteville held Monk to just three points in building a 48-36 lead.

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Fayetteville High School Athletics

FAYETTEVILLE SEPARATES FROM BENTONVILLE

VERNON TARVER

NWADG | 1/30/2016

PHOTO CREDIT: NWADG