A stout defensive effort led the Arkansas men’s basketball team to a 62-61 victory at Alabama on Wednesday night in Coleman Coliseum. The Razorbacks won their season-best fourth-consecutive game – including second straight on the road – to improve to 16-14 on the year and 9-8 in SEC play.
Moses Kingsley was a force inside for Arkansas, leading the team with 19 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. It was his sixth-consecutive game with eight-plus rebounds and 12th effort of three-plus blocks in 30 games this season.
Anthlon Bell added 17 points of his own, including two clutch foul shots with 3.8 seconds left to put the Razorbacks up by four. They ended up being extremely crucial, as the Crimson Tide’s Retin Obasohan – who had 32 of their 61 points – hit a three-pointer as time expired to bring the final spread to only one point.
A low-scoring contest early, Alabama led 20-17 a full 13 minutes into the game. But Arkansas went on a 17-7 run over the final seven minutes of the first half, capped by a hanging layup by Anton Beard in the lane as time expired, to take a 34-27 lead into halftime. Dusty Hannahs led the Razorbacks with nine points in the first half.
Obasohan opened up the second half with a vengeance, scoring the first six points for the Crimson Tide to bring the score within one. Neither team led by more than five the rest of the way, as the game was destined to go down to the wire.
Things looked grim for Arkansas when Obasohan hit a free throw with 3:38 remaining to give Alabama a 58-57 lead, but a clutch Kingsley putback at the 1:44 mark put the Razorbacks ahead for good. The visitors didn’t allow any more points until the final buzzer, when Obasohan sunk the long three with a four-point deficit.
QUICK HITS
• In the last three seasons, Arkansas has won on the road against 10 of the 13 SEC schools, joining Kentucky (13) and Florida (10) as the only other conference teams to do so.
• Anthlon Bell has hit a three-pointer in all 30 games this season.
• With a 6-for-6 performance on Wednesday, Bell is a perfect 23-for-23 at the foul line over the last eight contests.
• Dusty Hannahs finished with 10 points, as he scored in double figures for the fifth-consecutive game.
UP NEXT
Arkansas returns home Saturday afternoon for Senior Day, hosting South Carolina in the final game of the regular season. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena.
