CABOT -- A bird flew lazily around the rafters of Cabot's Panther Arena mere minutes after Bentonville and Van Buren finished an overtime classic in the Class 7A semifinals. There was no plane in sight.

Malik Monk was Superman on Saturday.

Monk hit a step-back, fade-away 3-pointer from the deep on the right wing to break a tie with 1:13 left in overtime, propelling No. 2 Bentonville to a thrilling 63-57 win over No. 3 Van Buren.

Monk finished with 33 points and clinched a trip back to Hot Springs and the state championship game for the Tigers (21-8), which lost in the finals to North Little Rock last year. Monk, a Kentucky signee, has hit several big end-game, highlight-reel shots in his career, but Saturday surpassed them all.

"It's No. 1 -- we're going to the state finals for the second time in Bentonville history," Monk said. "In ninth grade I hit (a shot at) Peach Jam, but that wasn't as big as this right here. Bentonville's never won state, so I'm just trying to do that. So I think this is No. 1."

Van Buren (22-7) had a chance to win in regulation, but junior Beau Beckner missed a layup underneath the basket on the final possession. The Pointers lost despite a sensational performance from Missouri signee Mitchell Smith, who scored a game-high 34 points before fouling out while going for a block with 1:48 left in overtime and Van Buren leading 54-52.

"I saw a great block, is what I saw," Van Buren coach Randy Loyd said. "And he knows it, the official knows it, too. I said, don't tell me. I don't want to hear it now. That may have been the biggest call of the night."

Bentonville junior Jordan Hemphill turned in a standout performance of his own, scoring 17 big points and attacking the rim the entire game. He drew the fifth foul on Smith and hit two free throws to tie the game at 54, setting the stage for Monk's heroics.

"Assistant coaches and head coach were telling me to just be aggressive and don't worry about inside and just create for others and yourself," Hemphill said. "And it worked."

Van Buren led 23-18 at halftime thanks to a dominant performance by Smith. The 6-foot-11 forward poured in 21 in the first half, scoring against anyone Bentonville put on him, including Monk, in what was largely single coverage.

"We did want to double more than we did," Bentonville coach Jason McMahan said. "We were trying to and just some execution errors of not being able to hit that. And Mitchell's improved so much, going baseline and some things he hasn't done in the past, that created some difficulties."

The Pointers were up 32-29 entering the fourth and stretched the lead to six with a little more than six minutes to play. But they made just 6 of 15 free throws and turned the ball over nine times in the second half, including seven in the third quarter, to allow Bentonville to stay in the game.

Even still, Jaylynn Dye gave Van Buren a 48-46 lead in the final minute after a long rebound and transition layup. But Monk answered with a 360-degree layup over Smith seconds later to tie the game. Van Buren played a zone in an effort to slow Monk, but, in the end, he found a way to win the game.

"The best I've ever seen," Loyd said of Monk. "He's just somebody special that can do things to you that nobody else will ever do to you."

The 360 layup sent the game to overtime. Then Monk sent the Tigers to the championship game by hitting the self-proclaimed biggest shot of his life.

"And next week will be bigger," McMahan said.

"Way bigger," Monk agreed.

photo credit: Melissa Gerrits
