Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Macon’s 25 points propel Hogs
The Arkansas Razorbacks built a 22-point lead in the first half and coasted to an 88-63 victo- ry over Troy on Saturday night before an announced crowd of 16,416 at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
It was the second-largest crowd for a Razorbacks game in Verizon Arena, surpassed
only by the 17,021 who saw No. 6 Oklahoma State beat the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville on Dec. 22, 2001.
Daryl Macon, a senior guard from Little Rock, led the Razorbacks (8-2) with 25 points, 5 assists and 3 steals.
Arkansas senior guard Anton Beard, from North Little Rock, scored 11 points.
Daniel Gafford, a 6-11 freshman from El Dorado, added
10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocked shots for the Razorbacks.
Arkansas senior guard Jaylen Barford, who came into the game averaging a teamhigh 19.9 points, shot 2 of 11 from the field and finished with a season-low 7 points, but he had 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
Sophomore forward Adrio Bailey finished with 10 points — capping the game with a dunk — and senior forward Trey Thompson scored eight points for the Razorbacks.
Senior guard Wesley Person Jr. led Troy (5-6) with 25 points. Junior forward Alex Hicks added 16 points for the Trojans.
Person hit a three-pointer to pull the Trojans within 4530 with 16:41 left.
Arkansas rebuilt its lead to 53-32 on two baskets by Thompson — including an alley-oop dunk with an assist from Barford — along with a layup by Beard and Macon’s two free throws.
Troy didn’t closer than 17 points the rest of the game.
Macon’s three-point basket put the Razorbacks ahead by 23 — 72-49 — with 7:23 left.
Thompson blocked a three-point attempt by Person with a second left in the first half to keep Arkansas’ lead at 45-25 at halftime.
Troy hit its first three shots — including two three-pointers by Juan Davis — to jump out to an 8-2 lead.
The Razorbacks responded with an 18-2 run, with Macon hitting back-to-back three-pointers and twice making steals and converting them into layups, to move ahead 20-10 with 13:19 left in the half.
The Trojans rallied to pull within 20-19 as they got three consecutive three-pointers, two by Person and one by Javan Johnson.
Arkansas then outscored Troy 20-2 over a 6:10 span to take a 41-21 lead at the 4:18 mark of the half.
Thompson started the Razorbacks’ run with a reverse layup, and Macon ended it with two free throws after Troy senior guard Kevin Baker was called for a technical foul.
Baker drew the technical when he complained to an official after no foul was called on his drive to the basket.
Barford had two highlight assists on a long pass to C.J. Jones for a dunk that made it 26-19 and an inbounds pass to Adrio Bailey for another dunk that put the Razorbacks ahead 30-21.
Beard’s driving basket made it 45-23 with 1:49 left in the half.
Arkansas improved to 4-1 all-time against Troy and is now 91-30 in games played in Little Rock and North Little Rock, including 10-9 at Verizon Arena.
The Razorbacks’ next game is against Oral Roberts on Tuesday night in Walton Arena.
Arkansas then has an eight-day break between games before playing California State-Bakersfield on Dec. 28 in Walton Arena and opening SEC play against Tennessee at home on Dec. 30.