AAU Basketball: Wings roll in opener

NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Payton Willis with Arkansas Wings 17U shoots Friday against Elfrid Peyton 17U during the first half of the game in The Warmup tournament at Bentonville High School.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Payton Willis with Arkansas Wings 17U shoots Friday against Elfrid Peyton 17U during the first half of the game in The Warmup tournament at Bentonville High School.

BENTONVILLE -- A former Bentonville back court shined in clutch time Friday night to kick off The Warmup AAU Basketball Tournament in Tiger Arena.

Current Bentonville junior Malik Monk had a game-high 25 points, and he and former Tiger teammate Tyrik Dixon hit big 3-pointers late to lead the Arkansas Wings over Elfrid Payton Elite 63-57 in the 17-and-under showcase game of the inaugural event.

The Wings trailed 51-49 before a 3-pointer from Dixon, who is now at Little Rock's Southwest Christian Academy, put his team ahead and Monk added one just seconds later.

"It was exciting and good competition," said Marcus Monk, The Warm Up organizer and former Arkansas football and basketball star and the older bother of Malik Monk. "I'm happy with the crowd we had and ready for a long day tomorrow.

"There's a lot of great talent in this tournament and we had a chance to see that tonight."

Pool action in the tournament, which features 13U through 17U divisions, will get underway at 10 a.m. today with competition continuing through 10 p.m.

The championship games are slated for 2 p.m. Sunday.

Fayetteville junior guard Payton Willis added eight points and Van Buren's Mitchell Smith five in the Wings' win on Friday night.

Melvin Frazier, an unsigned senior from New Orleans who is waiting on a qualifying ACT score and has interest from Arkansas, had 17 points to lead EPE.

Arkansas Baptist's Connor Vanover, a 7-foot-3 ninth-grader who led his high school team to the Class 4A state semifinals, had 15 points to lead the Arkansas Wings over Team Texas 90-48 in the 16U showcase game.

Little Rock Mills sophomore Jeremiah Trotter led the Wings with 19 points while Springdale Har-Ber's Avery Benson added 13.

Dudley Dawson is the recruiting editor for Hawgs Illustrated, a Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publication. He can be reached at dedsports@aol.com or on Twitter @Dedsports.

Sports on 04/04/2015

Upcoming Events