By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For the second time this season, Georgia played well in the opening minutes against Arkansas and built a comfortable halftime lead.
This time, the Bulldogs didn’t collapse after the break.
Georgia got 23 points and 14 rebounds from forward Trey Thompkins and guard Travis Leslie scored 21 more to lead the Bulldogs to a 77-64 win against Arkansas in the first round of the 2010 SEC Tournament on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs took an eight-point lead into the locker room and fought off the Razorbacks in the second half to avenge a loss to Arkansas earlier this season. It also helped Georgia (14-16) advance to the second round of the tournament, where it will play Vanderbilt tonight.
“We understood that Arkansas is a good team, and they’re a team that is able to make runs,” Thompkins said. “So when they made their run, we stuck with it and we understood that, OK, they made their run.
“Now it’s time for us to make ours.”
With it, Georgia ensured that Arkansas (14-18) won’t play in the postseason for the second consecutive year.
Arkansas, which led the Southeastern Conference Western Division with a 7-4 record a few weeks ago, ended the 2009-10 season with a six-game losing streak.
“It’s frustrating,” said Arkansas forward Marshawn Powell, who scored 10 points in the loss. “But for me, I’m going to take it as motivation for next year.”
The Razorbacks carried some confidence into their first-round matchup with Georgia after beating the Bulldogs in Athens, Ga. earlier this season. In that game, Arkansas trailed by 15 points at halftime before rallying behind point guard Courtney Fortson to an SEC win.
But Arkansas’ hopes were done in by two lengthy scoring droughts over the final minutes of each half Thursday.
“We had a chance to cut it on down and didn’t do it,” Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said.
In the first half, the Razorbacks managed to close Georgia’s double digit lead to one point when Glenn Bryant made a pair of free throws. But empty possessions on offense and some defensive breakdowns over the final three minutes helped Georgia go on a 7-0 run that gave the Bulldogs a comfortable 40-32 advantage at the break.
That wasn’t the worst scoreless drought, though.
Arkansas tested and challenged the Bulldogs in the second half, trimming into the lead several times. Forward Michael Washington — who scored a team-high 20 points in his final game with the Razorbacks — made a pair of free throws to cut Georgia’s lead to 52-49, but the Bulldogs responded with four straight points.
Arkansas made one final push a few minutes later, trimming an eight-point Georgia lead to 67-61. But Nobles missed a pair of free throws after a steal that would’ve cut the advantage to four points with 4:48 remaining and once again Arkansas notched several empty possessions.
It allowed Georgia to score 10 straight points and end the game on a 10-3 run, sending the Razorbacks home with a first-round loss for the second-straight season
“We wanted to be there and win the game,” McPhee said. “They made that run in the second half. We were able to get some key stops and were able to finish it off.”
It was reminiscent of Arkansas’ regular season finale, when the Razorbacks went cold over the final five minutes to squander a nine-point lead against Ole Miss.
“We were right there,” Pelphrey said. “The last two games, we just have not been able to score enough.”
