UK basketball signee Dontaie Allen draws large crowds across Kentucky

Mt. Olivet, Ky. – Dontaie Allen’s appearance in Robertson County has forced a question to be asked for the first time.

At what point will the fire marshal say the gymnasium has reached capacity? Since students are not charged attendance, no one seems to know for sure how many people have showed up to watch Allen join the 3,000-point club for his high school career as his Pendleton County squad cruises to a 116-77 win in a key district game.

What is clear is that parking ran out long before the 6 p.m. tipoff with the fans from Robertson, the smallest county in the state, and the surrounding areas resorting to parking on the side of the two-lane road running in front of the school that opened in 2013 to house the approximately 340 students in the district, kindergarten through 12th grade.

Only one section of the bleachers on the visitors’ side of the gymnasium is pulled out for most Robertson County games. But for Allen’s appearance both sides of the court and the standing-room areas along the baselines are filled with not only Robertson and Pendleton County fans, but also a large number of neutrals wearing Kentucky blue to get a glimpse of Allen, a 6-foot-6 small forward who is the first home-state hero to earn a scholarship to play for UK since 2013.

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“It’s been the same every game,” Pendleton County coach Keaton Belcher said. “People are coming to watch the kid who signed with Kentucky. Honestly, it’s kind of motivated our team.”

On this night the record crowd gets more than its money’s worth for the $5 cost of admission. Allen ties a career high with 53 points on 17-of-25 shooting and becomes the 35th player in Kentucky high school history to score 3,000 points in his career.

Less than a year ago the spectacle would have been hard to imagine.

As a junior, Allen led the state in points, but playing off the radar for Pendleton County and for a small AAU program not affiliated with the major shoe-company circuits, his recruiting hype was nonexistent.

But as Allen continued to turn heads in the spring and summer playing for the M.A.T.T.S. Mustangs, leading the Under Armour Challenge in scoring in July when his team earned one of the nonaffiliated invites to the shoe company’s marquee event, the high-major scholarship offers began to pile up.

Florida, Pittsburgh, Illinois, Oklahoma, Iowa State, St. Louis, Auburn, Louisville and Clemson offered after the Under Armour Challenge breakout. UK coach John Calipari was among the coaches who watched Allen take over the tournament in Cartersville, Georgia, and decided Allen was good enough to earn a scholarship offer during a visit to campus later that month.

He needed little time to consider the offer. After turning down the chance to play at higher-profile basketball factory prep schools earlier in his high school career to stay with friends and family in Pendleton County, of course Allen would play for his home-state school.

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He became the first Kentucky high school player to sign with the Wildcats since Dominique Hawkins and Derek Willis in 2013, but the timing of his offer and commitment has given the state something unprecedented in the Calipari era: a high-scoring local star who will play his entire senior season with the spotlight of a UK signee and Mr. Basketball favorite.

“It’s just been good,” Allen said. “You can see some BBN fans here. They’re all over the state, so any time they can come out it makes me feel great and it pushes our team to do better and we can get some wins from it.”

Hawkins and Willis are the only Kentucky high school players to previously earn scholarship offers from Calipari.

Hawkins only nabbed his UK scholarship after leading Madison Central to the state title as a senior as Calipari watched from the Rupp Arena sideline following his team’s disappointing first-round loss in the 2013 NIT.

Like Allen, Willis played his entire senior season as a UK commitment, but while Allen’s recruiting hype has soared entering his senior season, Willis’ went the opposite direction, dropping from a consensus top-50 recruit when he committed to Kentucky as a junior to outside the top 100 following a middling summer on the AAU circuit before his senior year. Willis, who eventually developed into a key contributor as an upperclassman at UK, also lacked the what-will-he-do-tonight spectacle Allen brings, averaging 17.4 points and 9.4 rebounds as a senior at Bullitt East.

After tying his career high against Robertson County, Allen, ranked as the No. 54 prospect in the country by Rivals, is averaging 43.4 points and 15 rebounds per game through eight games of his senior year. Four times already this season he has scored at least 50 points in a game.

“He’s a smooth player; he’s a joy to watch,” Belcher said. “He scores at all three levels so easily; off the bounce, midrange, 3-pointers. He’s a phenomenal 3-point shooter. He’s really hard to guard single coverage.”

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Pendleton County’s schedule has already brought Allen to Williamstown, Scott, Marshall County, Nicholas County, George Rogers Clark and Robertson County this season. Kentucky fans near Cynthiana, Ashland, Lexington, Erlanger, Alexandria, Brooksville, Mount Sterling and Paris will have a chance to see Allen’s 10th region squad play in their home gymnasiums this season too.

Should Allen keep on his scoring pace, he has a chance to become just the second player in Kentucky high school history to top 4,000 points in his career if Pendleton County (6-2) makes a prolonged postseason run.

Allen can expect more scenes like the one in Robertson County on Wednesday when a young fan stopped him during the halftime layup line to ask for an autograph and a steady stream of signs celebrating his 3,000th point were passed down to Allen on the Pendleton County bench during the game’s final five minutes for signatures.

“When he was in eighth grade he didn’t talk to anybody,” Belcher said. “Now he’s a senior, he has to talk to people because he’s a UK basketball player and he’s going to see media coverage the rest of his life. He’s really gotten out of his shell. He’s been fantastic with the young kids wanting autographs and pictures. He’s signing autograph after autograph tonight. It’s been a joy to be around him for five years, not just as an athlete but as a person.”

The admiration Allen has already built was on full display at Robertson County when the home school stopped the game after Allen’s 10th point in the first quarter to give the crowd a chance to applaud him for joining the 3,000-point club.

“The fact that you can go away and score a milestone like that and they stop the game, that speaks on the character of their end,” Allen said. “I really appreciate them for doing that. … It means the world. The fact that they come up to me and think of me as someone that can sign and autograph for them and they get some pleasure from that, it feels great.”

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Jon Hale: jahale@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @JonHale_CJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/jonh.