SEC TOURNAMENT REPORT: Moody makes 28 points his mark.

University of Arkansas guard Moses Moody scored 28 points for the third time in the last four games — and fourth time this season — in LSU’s 78-71 victory over the No. 8 Razorbacks on Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

The 6-6 freshman from Little Rock hit 8 of 16 shots, including 4 of 10 threepointers, and 8 of 12 free throws.

“I thought he was great,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “He led the game in scoring. He played phenomenal other than missing a couple free throws, which we all know he usually makes.”

Moody scored 20 points in the first half, when he shot 7 of 10 in the first half, including 4 of 5 threepointers.

“When they were sitting in that 1-3-1, I was wide open,” Moody said. “A lot of those shots were easy, wide-open looks.”

LSU opened in a zone defense, then after eight minutes switched to man-toman the rest of the game.

“When they got out of that [zone], they put more attention on me,” Moody said. “They started switching ball screens. Just tried to stay with me more.”

Moody closed the regular season by scoring 28 points at South Carolina and against Texas A&M, then responded with another 28-point game after being held to five points in Arkansas’ 70-64 victory over Missouri on Friday night.

“He came out firing,” Razorbacks senior forward Justin Smith said of Moody’s hot start Saturday. “I think he kind of had a chip on his shoulder after the last game.”

Smith said the Tigers did a good job defending Moody in the second half, and that he needed more help from his teammates.

“Maybe that’s on us, the rest of us, trying to get him more open shots,” Smith said. “But we’ll take this game as a learning experience.”

In the three games in which Moody has scored six or fewer points, he averaged 26.3 points the next game.

Moody also scored 28 points at Alabama this season.