THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bentonville High School Athletics

Malik Monk of Bentonville High School is among 24 high school and college players who have received invitations to take part in the USA Basketball Under-19 World Championship Team training camp June 12-26 at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The camp is used to select the 12-man roster for the United States' under-19 team that will compete in the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, which will be held June 27-July 5 in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. The U.S. team will be in Group A in the preliminary round and will play games against Iran, Croatia and Egypt on consecutive days. Monk, a 6-4 guard who will be a senior next season, and the other 23 participants with go through two days of practices before finalists for the national team are announced June 15. The roster will be selected prior to the team's departure for Greece. "This is big, and for Malik it's a huge challenge," Bentonville Coach Jason McMahan said. "There are three grades that are qualified for this. You're talking about college sophomores that are invited to this camp, then there are incoming college freshmen that are on campuses now, and there are those upcoming high school seniors. "For him to be invited to the camp is a huge honor." Monk was the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's All-Arkansas Preps player of the year last season after averaging 26.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while leading Bentonville to the 7A-West Conference championship and into the Class 7A state championship game, where it lost to North Little Rock. Monk broke the Tigers' single-game scoring record twice, including a 50-point performance against Chino Hills, Calif., in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions in Springfield, Mo., and surpassed the 2,000-point mark during the Class 7A state tournament. The training camp also features two players -- Jayson Tatum of St. Louis Chaminade Prep and Harry Giles of High Point (N.C.) Wesleyan Christian -- that Bentonville faced last season. Both were members of the under-19 team in 2013. The Tigers will face Tatum next season when the teams play in December in St. Louis. "He's really excited about this and the ability to test himself against guys who are really two years older than him and see if he can make the team," McMahan said. "It's great practice for him to go against the best in the whole country, and of course to represent your country in Greece." The U.S. team will be coached by Arizona's Sean Miller, with Providence's Ed Cooley and Dayton's Archie Miller serving as assistant coaches.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bentonville High School Athletics

U.S. UNDER-19 CAMP OFFERS MONK TRYOUT

HENRY APPLE

Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 6/4/2015

PHOTO CREDIT: Arkansas Democrat