By Matt Jones
Special to the Arkansas News Bureau
FAYETTEVILLE — Despite another short bench, Arkansas fared just fine Wednesday night, outmuscling Alabama State en route to a 76-51 win at Bud Walton Arena.
It was the Razorbacks’ third consecutive win.
Mike Washington scored a season-high 22 points to lead all scorers and added eight rebounds as Arkansas played without leading scorer Rotnei Clarke, who coach John Pelphrey said was a game-time decision with tendonitis in his left knee.
The Razorbacks also were without Michael Sanchez (plantar fasciitis) and Courtney Fortson (indefinite suspension), and dressed just nine players. Arkansas has yet to play at full strength this season.
“It throws eight days of preparation out the window, to a certain degree, with some things we were trying to get into play, but I thought the guys handled it very well,” Pelphrey said of Clarke’s injury. “Our focus is always to go inside and get those guys established, but tonight was even more so with Rot being out.
“I thought Mike got off to a great start, and got established and scored some buckets for us.”
Despite battling a sore back, Washington helped Arkansas (5-5) outscore the Hornets 48-14 in the paint and outrebound the opposition 45-34.
Marshawn Powell added 13 points and six rebounds on the inside, and Glenn Bryant scored 11 points and grabbed five boards.
“We try to take advantage of what we have and we had size tonight, so we just tried to get our big men involved early in the game and continue throughout the game,” Bryant said. “If they doubled them, we kicked it out and got others shots.”
The Razorbacks — returning from a nine-day break for final exams — jumped out to a 36-19 first half lead behind Washington’s 15 points before the intermission.
A stout defense held Alabama State to 5 of 29 shooting from the floor in the first half with all makes coming on 3-point baskets.
The Hornets (1-7) finished the game shooting just 27.1 percent from the field. Menji Mundadi scored a team-high 21 points.
Pelphrey said Clarke (21.2 points per game) began feeling soreness in his knee late in Arkansas’ loss at Oklahoma on Dec. 2. The coach said he’s hopeful Clarke will return for the Razorbacks’ next game against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday.
“He’s had a tremendous amount of time off — I think he’s had five of the last six days off,” Pelphrey said. “He had a really good practice Thursday and was flying around and moving pretty well. He couldn’t get going Friday … and basically he hasn’t really practiced since then. It’s one of those things (where) you kind of rest it, treat it and move on.”
Pelphrey said Sanchez is out indefinitely again with treatment to his injured foot, which caused him to miss the Razorbacks’ first five games of the season. Pelphrey said Fortson will miss yet another game Saturday — his 11th in a row — but wouldn’t rule out a return past that.
“We are making some progress there,” Pelphrey said. “Certainly, we’ll see when grades come out and what the rest of the plan looks like.”
