Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rally falls short
Missouri holds off Arkansas
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri finally found a lead it could hold Tuesday, while the University of Arkansas lost a chance to notch its third SEC road victory.
The Tigers held off a late rally to outlast the Razorbacks 79-78 before an estimated crowd of 9,489 at Mizzou Arena.
Missouri (12-11, 3-8 SEC) avoided having another late meltdown that has characterized its season, broke a two-game losing streak and won for the second time in seven games.
Arkansas (14-10, 5-6) lost its second in a row on the road after reeling off four consecutive conference victories.
The Razorbacks, trailing by as many as 13 points in the second half, made a late push.
Two three-point plays by Daniel Gafford and a longrange three-pointer from Isaiah Joe capped a 9-4 run by the Hogs to cut the deficit to 74-72.
But guards Ronnie Suggs and Xavier Pinson, and big man Jeremiah Tilmon, hit big shots down the stretch for Missouri, which had blown big leads against LSU, Arkansas and others in conference play.
Jordan Geist’s free throw with 21.6 seconds remaining gave Missouri a 79-76 lead.
Arkansas came out of a timeout with 17.8 seconds remaining, and Jalen Harris fed Gafford for a dunk to make it 79-78.
Harris then drew an offensive push-off foul against Pinson, giving the Razorbacks a chance for a game-winning shot.
On the final play, Harris got stuck at the elbow after picking up his dribble and tried an off-balance pass to Gafford, who could not come down with it. Tilmon picked off the pass as the clock ran out.
The Razorbacks were led by Gafford, who scored the team’s first 10 points and finished with 26 points on 12-of17 shooting.
Gafford had an injury scare late in the first half when he went down while clutching at his lower back after contact in the post by Missouri’s Reed Niko. Gafford returned to the game a few minutes later after stretching out on the sideline.
Arkansas guard Isaiah Joe overtook Rotnei Clarke’s school record for three-pointers by a freshman. The 6-5 guard hit four three-pointers to reach 86 for the season, and he scored 17 points. Mason Jones added 12 for the Razorbacks.
Tilmon returned from wisdom teeth surgery to lead the Tigers with 21 points on 8-of11 shooting. Geist chipped in 18 points, including 4-of-11 shooting from three-point range.
Missouri split the season series, which has been played twice every year since 201213, for the third consecutive season and the fourth time overall.
The Tigers improved to 2-4 in SEC home games, rebounding from a 68-59 loss at Mizzou Arena on Saturday against Texas A&M.
Arkansas scored on its first couple of possessions with nice post work from Gafford, but the Tigers kept pace with matching shots by Tilmon and Kevin Puryear, then took a 7-4 lead on Geist’s three-point shot at the 18:09 mark.
Missouri would lead the rest of the way.
The Tigers built their first double-figure lead at 20-10 on another Geist three-pointer at the 12:50 mark. A Mason Jones jumper cut the Hogs’ deficit to eight, but the Tigers answered with consecutive three-pointers by Javon Pickett and Geist to build their largest lead of the half, 26-12.
The Razorbacks made inroads on the deficit during a brief stretch just past the midway point of the half. Adrio Bailey dunked on a feed from Harris, and Joe broke the Hogs’ 0 for 8 streak from three-point range by cashing in on a Harris pass. Bailey scored on a reverse layup to cut Missouri’s lead to 30-24 at the 7:26 mark.
That’s where the surge ended, as Harris picked up his second foul on a charging call moments later and sat out the rest of the half.
The Razorbacks went 1 of 11 from three-point range in the opening half, while Missouri was 6 of 15 from that distance.