FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - Many of Arkansas’ greatest were on hand to honor the school’s six Final Four appearances on Saturday.
Alandise Harris’ thundering one-handed dunk ignited a furious late rally that made the Razorbacks of old feel right at home in an 81-70 win over LSU.
Sparked by Harris’ late flush over Tigers star Johnny O’Bryant, as well as 16 second-half points from Coty Clarke, Arkansas (16-9, 5-7 Southeastern Conference) kept its faint NCAA tournament hopes alive with the much-needed win over the Tigers.
It did so in front of star-studded audience, one that included former President Bill Clinton and coaching greats Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson - all who were honored during a halftime ceremony in front of the Bud Walton Arena crowd of 18,904.
“It was electric in this arena today,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. “And there was an obvious reason why. We had a lot of champions here.”
The Razorbacks, who were paced by Ky Madden’s 21 points, led by as many as 10 points in the first half. LSU (15-9, 6-6) rallied in the second half behind O’Bryant, who finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out with 1:55 remaining.
Andre Stringer, who finished with 13 points, gave the Tigers a 55-54 lead with his third 3-pointer - their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. O’Bryant pushed the advantage to 57-54 with an alley-oop dunk off an assist from Stringer, but Harris answered on the other end for Arkansas - and how.
The junior, who was suspended for the Razorbacks loss at LSU on Feb. 1, drove the right baseline - right in front of Clinton, Richardson and Sutton - and threw down a powerful dunk over O’Bryant.
Harris’ dunk started a 12-2 run and Arkansas went on to outscore the Tigers 27-10 until a meaningless late 3-pointer.
“You always talk about momentum; you never know when it’s going to take place,” Anderson said. “… It was good to see (Harris) unleash the beast in him, and that’s what we needed at that point in time.”
While Arkansas celebrated its past and present on Saturday, LSU was left to once again lament its recent frustrations on the road. The Tigers have now lost five straight road games, falling at Arkansas despite outscoring the Razorbacks 42-20 in the paint and outrebounding them 46-36.
Arkansas scored 17 points off 17 turnovers by LSU, and it finished 10 of 17 on 3-pointers.
“We knew coming into today it would be this type of environment here,” LSU coach Johnny Jones said. “… We knew they would come out playing extremely hard with the success that they have had lately and especially here at home.”
Led by the hot start of Michael Qualls, who finished with 13 points, Arkansas led by as many as 10 points in the first half - taking a 21-11 lead after a 3-pointer by Kikko Haydar. The Razorbacks were 5 of 7 on 3-pointers at that point, including three from Qualls.
The sophomore had 11 of Arkansas’ first 18 points, including a basket following one of LSU’s 11 turnovers in the half.
Despite the early deficit, the Tigers closed to within 37-33 at halftime after a pair of free throws by Jordan Mickey, who finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
LSU stayed close in the first half thanks to a 27-19 rebounding advantage, including grabbing 10 of the last 12 rebounds of the half. O’Bryant had 10 points and nine rebounds at the half and scored on a pair of putbacks following two of his six offensive rebounds.
“We won the war on the boards tonight, but we missed a lot of easy shots around the basket that possibly could have made a big difference in this game today,” Jones said.
Clarke was limited to three minutes with foul trouble in the first half, but he finished 5 of 7 from the field and added nine rebounds.
“We needed that in the first half, but he couldn’t because of foul trouble,” Madden said. “… He can easily do that every night.”
Arkansas has reached six Final Fours in school history, including back-to-back appearances in 1994-95. Corliss Williamson, who was on hand on Saturday, led the school to the 1994 national championship over Duke, a game Clinton was on hand to watch.
Clinton, an Arkansas native and former law school professor, was one of several Arkansas greats on hand for the halftime ceremony, which included Richardson, Sutton and former players Toddy Day, Lee Mayberry, Scotty Thurman and Sidney Moncrief, among others.
“It was an honor to meet the former players and know that they enjoy the way we play basketball,” Clarke said. “And they said this looked like the team that could bring it back, so we just want to go out there and prove that each and every night.”
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