By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach John Pelphrey and the Razorbacks couldn’t really come up with a definitive answer to the question Saturday.
How did Arkansas, which struggled offensively and trailed almost the entire game, manage to beat Alabama 70-65 in Bud Walton Arena?
“We just battled,” Arkansas forward Marshawn Powell said. “We continued to battle until the clock said zero. And we came out with a ‘W.’”
In the end, it didn’t matter how improbable it appeared. Arkansas only cared about the result.
The Razorbacks (12-4, 2-1 in Southeastern Conference) — with road games at South Carolina and Florida on deck — avoided an ugly home loss by scoring 11 of the final 13 points in front of an announced crowd of 13,033 in Bud Walton Arena.
Powell led Arkansas with 17 points, while center Delvon Johnson bounced back from first half foul trouble to score 14 (all in the second half).
The duo helped Arkansas rally in a game it never led until the 2:08 mark. But the Hogs did enough on offense down the stretch and capitalized on Alabama (10-7, 2-1) turnovers in the final minute to win.
It helped the Razorbacks improve to 11-0 at home and bounce back from the embarrassing loss at LSU on Wednesday night. The performance certainly wasn’t pretty, but Pelphrey applauded the result.
“I’m not sure what we did well besides kind of hang in there,” Pelphrey said. “I’m proud of those guys for that. That’s tough sledding out there against the best defensive team in our league.”
Alabama, which had won five straight entering Saturday’s game, outshot (43.4 percent to 42.3), outrebounded (39-32) and outplayed the Razorbacks most of the afternoon. The Crimson Tide led by as many as 10 points in the first half, held off several Arkansas spurts in the second half and were leading 63-59 with 3:21 remaining Saturday.
But the Razorbacks fought back late. Powell gave Arkansas its first lead when he caught a pass from Rotnei Clarke and dunked it with 2:08 left.
After Alabama answered with a pair of free throws, Clarke — who scored 13 — made a short runner with 55 seconds remaining to give the Hogs the lead.
Alabama then committed turnovers on back-to-back possessions after Clarke’s bucket. The second came following Michael Sanchez two missed free throws, when Alabama point guard Trevor Releford threw the ball away after driving down the lane.
Mardracus Wade, who caught the errant pass, made two free throws to give the Razorbacks a 3-point lead. Alabama’s Charvez Davis missed a 3-pointer on the next possession, Sanchez grabbed the rebound and knocked down two more free throws to seal it.
“It was huge,” Wade said of the stops. “We needed those. We came in the locker room (at halftime) and we knew what we had to do. Everybody just had their mindset on we’ve got to get stops.”
The Crimson Tide, meanwhile, were frustrated by the end. Alabama won five straight entering the game with a chance to improve to 3-0 in SEC play.
“We didn’t handle the last two minutes of the game as well as we needed to,” Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. “(Arkansas) kept playing. Arkansas is a very good team. They’re undefeated at home. They do a good job and they’re a good team. Their defensive intensity was great and all night they were able to drive the basketball and had success driving.”
It was evident by the number of free throws Arkansas took Saturday, knocking down 24 of 35 from the stripe. By comparison, Alabama was 17 of 22.
Arkansas didn’t show vast improvement from the LSU loss, though. In fact, the same problems that proved costly it the LSU were factors again.
The Razorbacks struggled from the field in the first half, shooting 32.1 percent. But that was aided by a late spurt in which Arkansas managed to cut a 10-point deficit to four in the final minute.
Arkansas coach John Pelphrey believed he run — which helped the Razorbacks go into the locker room trailing 33-29 — was a key moment.
It took nearly 18 minutes in the second half for his team to finally take the lead. But it was better late than never for the Razorbacks, who are tied with Alabama, LSU and Mississippi State for first in the SEC West after three games.
“We feel very fortunate to win,” Pelphrey said. “I thought Alabama did a good job all day long of controlling the game. … We were fortunate to hang in there and really just catch them at the end.”
Free Throws
Guard Jemal Farmer, who played two minutes in Arkansas’ first two SEC games, was not with the Razorbacks on Saturday. Pelphrey said after the game the senior has “some personal things going on he’s trying to figure out.” Pelphrey said Farmer — who is averaging 3.6 points a game — is still a member of the team. … Guard Jeff Peterson started Saturday, but played just six minutes and never left the bench in the second half. Pelphrey said Peterson, who went scoreless, wasn’t injured. … Guard Rickey Scott (foot) was in uniform for the first time since Dec. 18 on Saturday. Pelphrey said the freshman isn’t ready to play, but is improving after missing seven straight games with an injury.
