Khalif Battle racked up 25 points off the bench and Arkansas put away Furman for a 97-83 victory on Monday night in Fayetteville, Ark.
Chandler Lawson provided 19 points and Trevon Brazile posted 13 points as the Razorbacks (6-3) built off last week’s triumph against then-No. 7 Duke.
Battle went 7-for-11 from the field, making four 3-pointers, and Lawson was 8-for-10 from the floor to contribute to Arkansas’ 60.7 percent shooting as a team.
JP Pegues had 21 points, Alex Williams pumped in 20, reserve Carter Whitt scored 14 and Garrett Hien had 10 for Furman (4-5), which was coming off Saturday’s one-point loss at Princeton. Pegues, who was 10-for-10 on free throws, posted 11 points in the final two minutes.
Brazile suffered an apparent ankle injury and missed time down the stretch. Davonte Davis grabbed 10 rebounds for the Razorbacks. Arkansas reserves supplied 51 points.
Arkansas led 85-70 until a foul on Layden Blocker and subsequent technical foul on Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman resulted in five straight free throws by Pegues at the 1:38 mark of the second half.
Then with 1:12 left, Pegues converted a four-point play to cut the Paladins’ deficit to 88-81.
Arkansas received a boost from guard Tramon Mark, who came off the bench for seven points. He missed the meeting with Duke after ending up in the hospital from an injury sustained in the third-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Nov. 24.
The Razorbacks lost the final two games in that tournament and dropped out of the national rankings.
The Paladins relied on perimeter shooting, making 12 shots from 3-point range. But their 16-for-41 effort on 2-pointers was too shoddy to overcome.
Furman was within 29-27 with less than seven minutes to play in the first half before the Razorbacks stretched their lead to 10 points with an 8-0 run that included a pair of buckets from Jeremiah Davenport.
Arkansas took a 40-35 edge into the break.
Furman was trying to become the second Southern Conference team this season to win at Arkansas after UNC Greensboro pulled off a surprise victory on Nov. 17.
–Field Level Media